Abstract:
A disabled individual's experience of space is a combination of constructs of dis/ableism and the embodied experiences of his/her impairments. Through working with The Lab, a network of technology clubs for high-functioning autistic youth, my research seeks to understand how individuals with autism are able to engage beyond the perceived limitations of their disability through their interactions and experiences with and within differentiated spaces. I refer to differentiated spaces as The Lab’s physical, online/digital and psychosocial spaces – both individually and in combination. In particular, this research presents an alternative perspective to the medical diagnosis of autism which broadly describes autistic individuals as having “persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts” by exemplifying how young people at The Lab socialize effectively through the use of technology and the configuration of spaces. Led by the transformative paradigm, I have developed a qualitative participatory design to help youth with autism overcome barriers to participating in research, and effectively engage young people who historically have been at risk of being underrepresented in sociocultural/non-medical research. In this presentation, I will introduce my use of creative video ethnography and online participatory ethnography. These methods exemplify how a combination of technology and research principles can help youth with autism engage in research and further our understanding about the effects of differentiated spaces on the socialisation of individuals on the spectrum.Through understanding The Lab's differentiated spaces from a transformative paradigm within the broader study of disability geography and critical disability studies, this research hopes to promote inclusive off- and online educational spaces for youth with autism.