Stage 1 of the Inquiry Process

Inquiry Topic: Exploring the relationship between theatre and the social interactive skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). 

The first stage of the inquiry process is to review the planning undertaken from Module 2, taking into account any feedback and amendments suggested. 

I was encouraged to focus more on the wider ethical considerations of my inquiry topic. Questions I would like to research further in order to gain a deeper understanding of the 'greater community' include: 

• How we understand other people's experiences
• Disability politics and identifying if those considered 'disabled' want to be considered 'normal' 
• When did 'disability' become an identifier? When does ASD become an identifier? 
• The history of ASD 
• How ASD is viewed by different cultures

Throughout the inquiry process I hope to use literature, the Skype discussions and these blog posts to explore each of these questions to gain deeper understanding. 

To just scratch the surface on the research I intend to do surrounding these questions, I watched a video released by BuzzFeed titled, "Things People with Disabilities Wish You Knew". In the video they interview four women with varying disabilities, asking their opinions on issues they seem to encounter every day. Here is a link to the video if you are interested in watching: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b7k6pEnyQ4

While the whole video is interesting and presented in a light-hearted way, two quotes really stuck out for me and interested me to do further research, and they were: 

"It's more about normalising disability than celebrating it" (Pamela) 

And 

"It took me a while to be able to call myself a 'person with a disability'. I'm a person first." (Eman)

I would really be interested to hear any thoughts you have on any of the questions I intend to further research this module and what you think of the video!