Beyond inclusion: collective social spaces of safety, communion, and recognition

Abstract This paper unsettles taken-for-granted understandings of social inclusion in the field of occupational therapy and links with the concept of radical inclusion developed in social occupational therapy. It traces the ways that, over time, inclusion has been reduced to a position within the inclusion/exclusion binary. Pierre Bourdieu’s reflexive theory of practice is introduced to expand understandings of how the negative value accorded to disability is reproduced through exclusionary social conditions and relations. Drawing on the results of a qualitative study that examined the everyday lives, practices and occupations of 13 Canadian youth who used augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) modes as a result of physical impairments, three elements of more inclusive social spaces - safety, communion, and recognition - are presented alongside implications of each for occupational therapy. These alternative approaches for thinking beyond inclusion are grounded by narratives illustrating elements of social spaces that can foster a sense of belonging and connection. The perspectives shared by youth in the study add complex insights into how they made ‘practical sense’ of prevailing calls for social inclusion. Their stories show how even as they struggled for inclusion, they were subject to and internalized negative valuations of disability. Importantly, the paper highlights strategies employed by youth to reformulate inclusion on their own terms. These reformulations go beyond over-simplified conceptions of inclusion and hold potential to inform the ways that occupational therapists work alongside individuals and collectives to improve life chances, expand occupational possibilities, and support flourishing for disabled children and youth.