Pivotal care practices: Care ethics in inclusive arts-based research with people labelled/with intellectual disability during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In this article, we aim to illustrate how inclusive research can be situated as a form of care work. We do this through addressing tensions and possibilities arising in an ongoing arts-based community-research project – DiStory, Then and Now. We discuss the design of the project along with critical, philosophical, and ethical foundations that drive decision-making and shifts in methodology in response to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. We argue that understanding inclusive research as care work is vital, particularly in pandemic times where complex socio-political contexts threaten the social survival of individuals and communities that have traditionally been excluded from knowledge creation projects. Our efforts to counter epistemic violence through practices of care are critically considered alongside tensions emerging in connection with physical contact restrictions combined with technology barriers experienced by many of our group members.