CLAIMING PRESENCE - In an urban environment not designed for us

Details

Supervisors

Degavre, Florence

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master de spécialisation en études de genre

Abstract

enThis study explores how young women with diverse support needs in relation to neurodivergence and cognitive differences experience feeling at ease when moving in and around the city and examines how participatory inclusive research can be developed in practice in ways that are meaningful for them. The research is grounded in a participatory co-research approach, working together with four young women with lived experiences. The findings show that feeling at ease and belonging are shaped by infrastructural and relational conditions. Yet, as structural responsibility for responding to care needs is not taken up, this responsibility is shifted onto young women with diverse support needs, who are left to bridge this gap themselves through their own agency. As a result, they take on a significant mental load to sustain their mobility and participation, while at the same time experiencing this effort as a source of pride and a valued expression of their autonomy. Methodologically, this study shows that participatory inclusive research emerges through the continuous co-creation of conditions that enable shared ownership of both the research process and knowledge production. As the process starts from unequal power positions, this requires ongoing engagement with these asymmetries. Caring practices helped navigate these asymmetries and created a safe environment in which experiences could be shared and explored collectively, contributing to qualitative knowledge production. Meaningful participation required an ongoing balance between structure, creating safety and orientation, and flexibility, allowing responsiveness to lived experience, difference, and changing forms of participation. Inclusive research cannot simply stop at the end of a project, as the relationships, responsibilities, and commitments it generated extend beyond academic timelines and project boundaries. Inclusive research therefore does not require the resolution of tensions and uncertainties, but the capacity to work with them collectively.