Everyday practices of exclusion/inclusion: women who have an intellectual disability speaking for themselves?

This article discusses a small in-depth research study with five women who have an intellectual disability. Recognising the potential limitations of narrative approaches an inclusive arts-based methodology, supplemented with semi-structured interviews, and was employed to enable the women to speak for themselves about issues that were of interest to them. Thematic analysis of the data showed that the women experienced practices of social and emotional exclusion, and inclusion, in their everyday lives. While disappointing, this is not surprising. Of particular interest to the researchers were the women’s strategies for living with, and sometimes resisting, such practices. We suggest that further research which elicits such resistant practices and working with women to strengthen them could be useful for people interested in notions of inclusion.