Building collaboration in the co‐production of knowledge with people with intellectual disabilities about their everyday use of city space

• Published in: Area (London 1969) 2019-09, Vol.51 (3), p.415-422
• Main Authors: Fudge Schormans, Ann, Wilton, Robert, Marquis, Nick
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; city space; Collaboration; co‐production; Disability studies; inclusive research; Intellectual disabilities; intellectual disability; Knowledge management; Lobbying; Power; Prospects; Public spaces; Self-advocacy; technology
• ISSN: 0004-0894; 1475-4762
• DOI: 10.1111/area.12492

We engage with scholarship in participatory geographies and critical disability studies to consider the difficulties and prospects of co‐producing knowledge with people with intellectual disabilities in a project examining their uses of urban public space. The research employed an inclusive, collaborative design and had an explicit focus on social change, articulated in the research process (e.g., the development of research and self‐advocacy skills) and outcomes (e.g., lobbying to improve material conditions, challenging ableist assumptions about “intellectual disability”). Our analysis highlights three tensions: the time/spaces constraints faced in “slow” participatory work, the nature and duration of relationships among collaborators and the shifting relations of power and influence within the project. We reflect critically on how these tensions were negotiated and what lessons might be learned for participatory practice. We engage with scholarship in participatory geographies and critical disability studies to consider the difficulties and prospects of co‐producing knowledge with people with intellectual disabilities in a project examining their uses of urban public space. Our analysis highlights three tensions: the time/spaces constraints faced in “slow” participatory work, the nature and duration of relationships among collaborators and the shifting relations of power and influence within the project.