Paper short abstract:

This presentation examines conventional inclusive development practices through the lens of deaf epistemic injustice. Drawing from a Cooperative Inquiry with Deaf women in Colombia, it advocates for redefining inclusion based on their lived experiences, emphasizing a shift towards epistemic justice

Paper long abstract:

This presentation interrogates conventional inclusive development practices through the lens of epistemic injustice and its implications for achieving more efficient, substantive, and long-lasting results. Drawing from a Cooperative Inquiry conducted with Deaf women in Colombia, the research challenges dominant, monolithic definitions of Deaf-inclusion. By co-constructing alternative understandings of what being included feels like, based on Deaf women's lived experiences and knowledge, the project demonstrates how epistemic justice can be central to decolonizing inclusive development practices.

This cooperative research highlights examples of epistemic injustice where Deaf women's experiences of exclusion and ‘failed practices of inclusion’ are undervalued in mainstream approaches and strategies of change. It highlights the limitations of current inclusion practices and policies, which often focus solely on accessibility while failing to recognize the complexity and nuances of Deaf experiences.

Through collaborative knowledge production, the research aims to start the conversation on how to co-create a practical definition of what inclusion truly is and feels like for those being included. Is an approach that demonstrates the potential of decolonial action research methodologies from Latin-America, such as Sentipensar (Fals-Borda) and Conscientisation (Paulo Freire) to counteract epistemic injustice and foster more realistic practices of inclusion within development studies. Ultimately, this research is an invitation to consider inclusion and development not as separate processes with their own expertise, but rather as two intrinsically intertwined components of a larger discussion of decoloniality.