Spaces for variation? Towards a practice-based and spatial understanding of disability

Time period:

1 January 2017 – 30 April 2023

Project leader:

Susanne Stenbacka

Project member:

Cecilia Bygdell, gunnel Forsberg

Funder:

Formas

Type of award:

Project grant

Total funding:

2,992,158 SEK

This project aims at investigating the intersection of rurality and disability, more specifically how rural life is experienced from a disability perspective. We will find out where questions of the intersection of the rural and disability are discussed and in what manner; how everyday lives in rural areas are expressed by different actors and whether there exists a rural disability movement. In addition, we aim at using the results to develop a more profound understanding of rurality, its characteristics and how the rural relates to other spaces.The project has a twofold perspective on the rural and its relation to disability. We will conduct individual interviews, focus group interviews and participant observations with people with diverse disability experiences. We will also examine if and how a disability perspective is present in contemporary planning and development of rural areas. Also discussed is whether the rural is present in discussions on possibilities and constraints, as well as citizenship and rights in the organizations and local authorities addressing these issues.An important aspect of the project is also to initialize discussions on disability with other researchers, rural development movements and municipalities that are part of the study. As there is today no debate about an inclusive rural from a disability perspective, we see an immediate need for this study and the communicative possibilities that arise.