This paper considers performance poetry as a method to explore lived experiences of disability. We discuss how poetic inquiry used within a participatory arts-based research framework can enable young people to collectively question society's attitudes and actions towards disability. Poetry will be considered as a means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people with direct experience of disability can be empowered to develop new skills that enable them to tell their own stories. Discussion of how this can challenge audiences to critically reflect upon their own perceptions of disability will also be developed.
This paper presents a discussion of the methodologies used in a small scale 'popular education' project involving young people in creative activities. The goal of the project is to explore their experiences and feelings about risk and safety and their 'connectedness' to their local community. A number of different methods are discussed as ways of empowering marginalised young people, including the use of visual methods, and new media in the form of blogs and Twitter Scripts, within an overarching participatory methodology. Arts-based and multimedia activities are powerful tools to enable young people to collectively question the nature of their historical and social situation and have the potential to raise sensitive issues, therefore, encouraging wider debate, producing new understandings, and facilitating social change. Building on insights gained in earlier research, which suggested that young people felt that they were not listened to or had enough influence in their neighbourhoods, this paper discusses the use of multimedia and creative means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people can learn new skills to enable them to tell their story. In keeping with Bourdieu's General Theoretical Framework, consideration is given to the ways in which such participatory and arts-based approaches can demonstrate value for the social and cultural capital of young people.
Homeless people often have multiple and complex needs resulting in deep social exclusion. Homelessness research represents a contested arena and one in which it is important to place the human experience of homelessness at the heart of the process. This paper reports on the Seldom Heard Voices project which used poetic inquiry as a qualitative research tool to examine the experience of homelessness. A performance poet, a group of homeless people attending a homeless hostel, and academics from social science backgrounds worked together to explore the lived experience of homelessness creating insights into wellbeing, identity, and belonging. This paper presents an overview of the project and considers how ‘poetic’ writing can engage seldom heard voices, providing a context for understanding the lived experience of homelessness through the words of participants, alongside the reflective narrative of the poet working with them. The project methodology is considered and the themes arising from two poems and the poet’s narrative is discussed.Keywords: homelessness; social services; poetic inquiry; arts-based research
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