Editor's abstract: The representational history of disabled people can largely be characterized as one of being put on display or hidden away. Self-representations have been a powerful part of the disability rights and culture movement, but recently scholars have analysed the ways in which these run the risk of creating a ‘single story’ that centres the experiences of white, western, physically disabled men. Here we introduce and theorize with Project Re•Vision, our arts-based research project that resists this singularity by creating and centring, without normalizing, representations that have previously been relegated to the margins. We draw from body becoming and new materialist theory to explore the dynamic ways in which positionality illuminates bodies of difference and open into a discussion about what is at stake when these stories are let loose into the world.
Project Re•Vision, a Canadian Institutes for Health Research-funded initiative, uses arts-based research methods of digital storytelling and drama to dismantle stereotypical understandings of disability and difference that create barriers to healthcare. To date, we have generated an archive of over 100 digital stories from women and people of all genders living with disabilities/differences and healthcare providers.
Project Re•Vision is a mobile multimedia lab dedicated to exploring ways in which communities can harness the power of arts-informed research to advance social inclusion and justice.