Abstract
This chapter brings together the fields of the health humanities and disability justice to analyse a collaborative project. Focused on an improvisation “toolkit” meant to be a resource to support individuals with complex disabilities, such as Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), the toolkit was meant to facilitate low-barrier improvisation games. In a primary iteration of this project, it was imagined to be a space for creative exploration and expression by participants, including disability support agency workers and “clients,” as a resource to enhance connectivity and counter social isolation. This chapter focuses on an unexpected iteration of the project that arose following a necessary disruption that raised questions about the foundational assumptions about the project and who was involved in its design. The project pivoted and new collaborations emerged. What followed were unexpected pedagogical practices within and between researchers, artists, and collaborators that emerged following disruption. The result was a rich pedagogical space in which the collaborators experienced new ways to think about how we play and learn together as well as mechanisms of accountability in practice. What emerged is a project that can be situated at the intersections of the health humanities and disability justice with new ways to think about collaboration and accountability in research and community programing.
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The following are the principles of disability justice: (1) intersectionality; (2) leadership of those most impacted; (3) anti-capitalism; (4) cross-movement solidarity; (5) wholeness; (6) sustainability; (7) cross-disability solidarity; (8) interdependence; (9) collective access; (10) collective liberation. These principles, with explanation, can be explored further by visiting sinsinvalid.org.
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Acknowledgements
This project, and every version of it, is the result of the insights and perspectives of many people. The authors would like to thank the following individuals and agencies for their involvement and contributions to the project. While not an exhaustive list, we hope it captures the range of individual involved and their impacts. Thanks to Jan Lutke for early inspiration as well as Dorothy Reid and Ray Marnoch and the entire Family Advisory Committee with Canada FASD Research Network for direction and insights. Thanks to Rebecca Caines for the capacity to bring improvisation into the field and to continue to seek new ways to work and collaborate together. Thanks to Dustin Brass, Johanna Bundon, Erin Goodpipe, Katrina Griffin, Rick Kotowich, Jayden Pfeifer, and Tom Scholte for facilitating workshops and offering reflection and insights during different iterations of this project. Thanks also to our range of community partners who contributed in many ways to this project, which includes, but is not limited to, the FASD Network of Saskatchewan, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Society Yukon, Options for Independence, and the Asante Centre for hosting and participating in workshops. Thanks also to the coordinators and students that assisted with facilitating workshops, research, and evaluation along the way, including Michelle Apps, Mia Bell, Krystal Glowatski, Alexandra Johnson, and Holly Shunamon. Thank-you to all the participants who took part in early versions of the workshop as well as different iterations—your insight continues to inform how we do this work moving forward. Thanks to Robyn Pitawanakwat and Chris Kortright for insight on the project and chapter. Thanks also to the editors, Katherine Robinson and Christian Reigel, for their dedication to this volume and critical insights on the drafts of our chapter. This project was also made possible through financial and/or structural support from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, Canada FASD Research Network, Regina Improvisation Studies Centre, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Canada Council for the Arts.
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Himmelreich, M., Stewart, M. (2023). Listen, Play, Learn: Rethinking Expertise and Collaboration in the Field of Disability Support Services. In: Riegel, C., Robinson, K.M. (eds) Health Humanities in Application. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08360-0_9
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