“I’m Me”: Peer and Creative Research with Learning Disabled and Autistic Artists
I’m Me is an AHRC funded project lead by Professor Matthew Reason that will work with learning disabled and autistic artists as peer and creative researchers to explore questions of identity, representation and voice.
I’m Me will engage with insights emerging at the intersection of identity between learning disability and artist. It will do so through the use of peer research techniques, through working with people with lived experience and insider knowledge, and the use of creative research methods. In particular, we will work through a reflexive methodology based on the ‘Creative Doodle Book’, a resource that uses open and playful tasks to encourage reflective self-expression. Through this approach the perceptions, insights and creative understandings of the peer researchers will be at the heart of both the process and the outcomes.
I’m Me will be conducted in collaboration with Mind the Gap and in partnership with a network of six disability arts companies: About Face, Confidance, Hijinx, Lung Ha, Open Theatre and Under the Stars. It will run from May 2023 to June 2025.
Matthew Reason 