Living Dis/Artfully with and in Illness

Area of Science:

• Arts-based research
• Disability studies
• Medical humanities

Background:

• Biomedical and humanistic frames often marginalize experiences of illness and disability.
• Hegemonic concepts of disability create significant barriers to equitable healthcare access.
• Arts-based research offers alternative methodologies for understanding lived experiences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To re-vision difference beyond conventional biomedical and humanistic perspectives.
• To generate new understandings of living with illness through multimedia storytelling.
• To challenge dominant narratives surrounding disability and its impact on healthcare.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of seven short videos created by women and trans individuals living with illness.
• Arts-based research methodology integrating qualitative analysis.
• Theoretical engagement with disability studies and post-humanistic medical approaches.

Main Results:

• Multimedia storytelling provides a platform for marginalized voices to articulate experiences of illness.
• The videos disrupt hegemonic understandings of disability, highlighting barriers to healthcare.
• Integration of disability studies offers a framework to unsettle traditional medical accounts of bodily difference.

Conclusions:

• Arts-based research and multimedia storytelling can foster new understandings of living with illness.
• Disability studies' insights are crucial for challenging medical humanism and re-embodying theory.
• Advancing medical post-humanistic approaches requires incorporating disability studies' critical perspectives.