Paper short abstract:

This multimodal paper argues that collaboration with people with mild intellectual disabilities (MID) is not about efforts of inclusion, but instead, it is our methodologies that need to be cripped. This multi-modal paper shows this is done through the coproduction of the science-fiction film “O”.

Paper long abstract:

Participatory, or inclusive, approaches strive to put the voices and experiential expertise of participants with mild intellectual disabilities (MID) at the center of research activities. At the same time, academic standards of what it means to produce knowledge complicate the collaboration with people with MID in scientific practices. Considering the intellectual and discursive nature of research practices, demands of competency and skill exclude possibilities of collaboration with people with MID. Thinking about how to solve this tension, this paper argues that collaboration with people with disabilities is not about efforts of inclusion, but instead, it is our methodologies that need to be “cripped”. This means moving away from the ideal of inclusion towards a more collective, interdependent and relational understanding of access, and of collaboration. This multi-modal paper shows how this is done through the coproduction of the science-fiction film “O”.