Moving Adapted Physical Activity: The Possibilities of Arts-Based Research

ABSTRACT

Where is the moving body in our written bodies of work? How might we articulate truly unspeakable and deeply moving moments of understanding? In what ways can we reflect and honor the knowledge of those who do not use academic words, English words, or any words at all? How might art move us to answer these questions differently—and more importantly, to ask different questions? These lines of inquiry have driven arts-based research movements within many fields including nursing, medicine, and education. In this article, we explore existing and potential uses of arts in adapted physical activity research and practice. We weave theoretical exploration, artistic engagement, and our personal experiences as researchers, practitioners and disabled movers. We do so in order to demonstrate how artistic epistemologies can enrich and expand our inquiry, understanding, and engagement in adapted physical activity.

KEYWORDS:

• Arts-based research
• qualitative methods
• disability
• critical disability studies

Notes

1. We intend to acknowledge that ABR can be useful for understanding bodies and emotions differently. We also, however, imply that ABR can glean knowledge directly from bodies: that our bodies are sites of knowledge generation (Snowber, 2012).

2. Art, within this article, refers to explicitly aesthetic and creative practices and products (e.g., painting, dance, film, poetry), in contrast to the (liberal) arts, which refers to a grouping of academic disciplines (e.g., history, sociology, English).

3. Ableism refers to a (often unacknowledged) set of prejudices or discriminatory behaviors that are based upon historically and politically produced structures of disability and normativity (Campbell, 2009; Withers, 2012).