10. Digital Heroes of the Imagination

Abstract

Touretteshero is a disabled- and neurodivergent-led company. Our mission is to create an inclusive and socially just world for disabled and non-disabled people through our cultural practice. Covid-19 created significantly increased barriers to meaningful inclusive play opportunities for many disabled young people in the UK. This was evident in the closure of adventure playgrounds and the changing landscape of special educational needs and disability provision and policy in response to the pandemic. Within this context, Touretteshero partnered with the National Youth Theatre to design and deliver Digital Heroes of the Imagination (DHOTI). DHOTI is a radical disabled-led play project combining inclusive practice training for young creatives, distribution of creative resources to learning disabled young people, and hybrid digital-physical play sessions for disabled young people. This chapter reflects on the existing practices of inclusive play and considers how discourses of risk, resilience and the right to play are renewed by new forms of disabled-led play that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic. In sharing key processes and learning from DHOTI and foregrounding disabled young people’s experiences, the chapter considers the creative and critical implications of the pandemic for inclusive play theory, education and practice.