Praxis-Oriented Research Toward a Liberatory Disability Politics: A Contemplative Inquiry Approach

Abstract

Knowledge extraction and the absence of reciprocity between scholars and grassroots practitioners in mainstream disability research are topics of concern for scholar-activists committed to disability justice in cultural and social studies research. Critical methodologies such as praxis-oriented research and scholar-activism in disability studies have sought to decenter Euro-American notions of expertise and nondisabled expert knowledge by centering disabled grassroots knowledge and leadership in all aspects of the disability experience. Overall, the literature demonstrates that emancipatory methods such as scholar-activism and praxis-oriented research have had a liberatory effect on disability studies inquiry. It also suggests that nondisabled researchers in other areas have yet to critically examine their role in perpetuating systemic ableism in their research practices. This article builds upon and extends the existing literature by considering disability studies scholars’ methodological interventions in traditionally dominant fields such as anthropology and policy studies. To keep with a praxis-oriented approach to research, the article uses a contemplative inquiry approach to discuss these interventions. Concluding remarks discuss the political significance of praxis-oriented research and its role in subverting unbalanced power dynamics between academic researchers and disabled grassroots practitioners, thus enabling a move toward a liberatory disability politics.