Whose Research Is It? Reflection on Participatory Research with Women and Girls with Disabilities in the Global South

Abstract:Drawing on the Transforming Disability Knowledge, Research, and Activism project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2016-2020), this article critically reflects on the project's participatory research process that involved young women and girls with disabilities in the Global South. I discuss epistemological and methodological questions related to the deployment of decolonizing research methodologies in the Global South in relation to theoretical and methodological approaches for engaging girls with disabilities. I argue that a critical, reflexive, and decolonizing research approach that embodies knowledge from the Global South is essential for empowering these girls to express themselves through multiple forms of representation.