Coalition-In-Progress

Abstract

For institutional survivors and their younger peers labelled/with intellectual disability, the COVID-19 pandemic and its related lockdowns carry over past experiences under government-directed isolation and mandatory medical interventions. The sudden convergence of past and present necropolitical ableism in labeled persons' lives colours this crisis, as we—a group of survivors, younger labeled people (who have not lived in institutions), and researcher/allies—attempt to simply stay in touch amid digital divides that cut off our once vibrant, interdependent in-person activities. No longer able to gather, and with limited Internet (or no) access, we resist social abandonment through phone calls. During phone conversations we discuss the affective contours of this time: grief over the past, loss of agency, restrictive rules in group homes, the dynamics of protest, fear sparked by public health orders, and a mix of anxiety and hope about the future. Taking this telephone-based dialogue as evidence of our lives in these times, we present a brief body of collectively written found poetry, a form of poetic inquiry composed of phone call snippets. This piece, coauthored by twenty members of the 'DiStory: Disability Then and Now' project in Toronto, Canada, offers a snapshot of coalition-in-process, keeping in touch amid a crisis that threatens our togetherness and—for some more than others—our lives. Following Braidotti, we couch this found poetry in a brief commentary on our slow, in-progress attempt to 'co-construct a different platform of becoming' with one another amid a divergence of historical and contemporary inequities.

Her strength: Reflections on nurse home‐visiting

“…While poetic inquiry is not common in academic writing, methodologists continue to move for its inclusion in qualitative data analysis (Patrick, 2016). It has been used by many in the helping professions, including those in social work (Hordyk et al., 2014; Kuri et al., 2022), education (Pithouse‐Morgan, 2016), psychology (Reilly et al., 2018), and in nursing (Janesick, 2016). Any data collected can be used, including reflexive journals, policies, documents, and/or participant interview transcripts (Janesick, 2016).…”

Coverage of Allies, Allyship and Disabled People: A Scoping Review

“…People covered under the terms learning disability/developmental disability/intellectual disability were mentioned in nine abstracts in relation to moving into the community [250], sexual health [251], a sense of belonging [252], autonomy [253], doing research [254,255], self-directed support [256], support workers [257], and transitioning to retirement [258]. Disability rights and self-advocacy were mentioned in eight abstracts as topics in need of allies: disability rights [259], disability rights activism during war [260], global activism [261], occupying disability [262], self-advocacy high school [263], advocacy and leadership by people with intellectual disabilities [264], autism, self-advocacy organizations support [265], and advocacy within the paralympic movement [266].…”