Beyond inclusion: Why research on encounter needs a feminist account of freedom

ABSTRACT

Background

Though the concept of encounter promises to move the field of social inclusion beyond the dichotomy of presence and participation, new work in political theory pushes encounter in a different direction, making freedom – not inclusion – the central value at stake.

Methods

Interpretative video analysis was conducted on an online learning program “Supporting Inclusion” developed to help support workers recognise and facilitate encounters between people with intellectual disabilities and community members.

Findings

Using the lens of freedom in the encounter offers an alternative framing of the significance and meaning of the online learning program’s social interactions.

Conclusions

Feminist theory can help show how unfreedom is a central problem facing people with intellectual disabilities, recasting encounter through the lens of freedom can help spark fresh insight into what makes encounter important.

KEYWORDS:

• Social inclusion
• encounter
• freedom
• intellectual disability
• feminist theory
• supports

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all those that organised and participated at both the 53rd Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability (ASID) Conference and the 2019 World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, where I was able to present earlier versions of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).