Challenging perceptions of disability through performance poetry methods: the ‘Seen but Seldom Heard’ project

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• arts-based methods
• disability
• participatory research
• poetic inquiry
• performance poetry
• voice

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank their co-collaborators ‘The Poetry Sensations’, Annie Cheer, Jonny Fluffypunk, Liv Torc and Nicky Hewitt for their enthusiasm, humour and commitment to the project, and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback on an original draft of this paper.

Funding

This work was supported by Bournemouth University Fusion Investment Fund and Bournemouth University Aimhigher.