Disability in the arts is an aspect within various arts disciplines of inclusive practices involving disability. It manifests itself in the output and mission of some stage and modern dance performing-arts companies, and as the subject matter of individual works of art, such as the work of specific painters and those who draw.

Disability in the arts is distinguished from disability art in that it refers to art that includes people with disabilities, whether in themes, performance, or the creation of the artwork, rather than works focusing on disability as the central theme. Disability in the arts can also refer to work that is made as a political act toward shaping a new community, fostering disability culture:

Disability culture is the difference between being alone, isolated, and individuated with a physical, cognitive, emotional or sensory difference that in our society invites discrimination and reinforces that isolation – the difference between all that and being in community. Naming oneself part of a larger group, a social movement or a subject position in modernity can help to focus energy, and to understand that solidarity can be found – precariously, in improvisation, always on the verge of collapse.

— Petra Kuppers

People with disabilities sometimes participate in artistic activities as part of expressive therapy (also known as "expressive arts therapy" or "creative arts therapy"). Expressive therapy may take the form of writing therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, or another artistic method. While creativity and artistic expression are parts of expressive therapy, they are secondary to the goal of achieving a therapeutic benefit. This article describes disability in the arts where artistic achievement is the primary goal.

The physically integrated dance movement is part of the disability culture movement, which recognizes the first-person experience of disability. This means disability is integrated not as a medical model construct but as a social phenomenon, through artistic, literary, and other creative means.

The Italian organist and composer Francesco Landini (c. 1325—1397) was the central figure of the Trecento style in late medieval music, his blindness makes him among the earliest figures in the history of disability in the arts.

Beethoven is remembered for his ability to compose classic music after completely losing his hearing. He tried several ways of using his deteriorating hearing before it completely disappeared. He had the legs of his pianoforte cut off, so that it was sitting directly on the floor. By lying on the floor in front of the keyboard, he could feel vibrations while he played, helping him to compose. Different attempts were made to help Beethoven with adaptive or assistive technology. Thomas Broadwood, the Streichers, and Conrad Graf were all piano manufacturers who tried different methods of adapting the instrument to make it louder for Beethoven: ear trumpets were attached to the soundboard, resonance plates were added to the underside of a piano, and using four strings for every key were all tried. Beethoven ultimately lost all hearing, and could no longer rely on an instrument to help him compose. Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony at this time in his life.