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Walking interconnections: Researching the lived experience of disabled people for a sustainable society

Sobers, Shawn; Adams, Suze; Heddon, Deirdre

Authors

Shawn Sobers Shawn.Sobers@uwe.ac.uk
Professor of Cultural Interdisciplinary Practice

Suze Adams

Deirdre Heddon



Abstract

‘Walking Interconnections’ is the name of a collaborative research project. As the name suggests, the project’s focus is on the ways in which walking, as an activity, can prompt the sharing of experiences between people. The interconnections we explore in this project are those between disabled people and sustainability practitioners. Whilst we recognise that some disabled people are sustainability practitioners, our research is prompted by an awareness that public communication around sustainability issues and practices tends to marginalise disabled people. We hope that Walking Interconnections might provide a method for facilitating useful exchange between and within these communities, learning from and with each other by walking together.

We are particularly interested in exploring how different people experience walking – and what those experiences can teach us: about walking and movement, about relationships to place and the environment, about how we get about and what we do and think and see and hear and feel as we walk through space. Though we cannot literally walk in someone else’s shoes, by walking with and beside them we might get more of a sense of their perspective on things and maybe gain some insights or knowledge that could be useful when thinking about how we can all live more sustainably.

So we have invited people to share walks … pairing disabled participants with sustainability practitioners. We provide ideas and ways to record the walking experiences – cameras, sound recorders, art materials for map-making and ‘A Guide’, a list that suggests things to photograph or explore en route. Perhaps walking and talking with someone else, will give a sense of what it might be like to walk as someone else – at the very least, new connections will be made.

Citation

Sobers, S., Adams, S., & Heddon, D. (2013, September). Walking interconnections: Researching the lived experience of disabled people for a sustainable society. Paper presented at Walking in the City: Mapping Borders Symposium, The Parlour Rooms, Bristol

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (unpublished)
Conference Name Walking in the City: Mapping Borders Symposium
Conference Location The Parlour Rooms, Bristol
Start Date Sep 13, 2013
End Date Sep 13, 2013
Publication Date Sep 13, 2013
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Keywords walking, disabled, interconnectedness, advocacy, participatory arts methodologies
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/927799
Related Public URLs http://walkinginterconnections.com/
Additional Information Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Walking in the City: Mapping Borders Symposium