Navigating multiple identities through art-making: stories of artists with congenital and acquired physical impairments

Constructing and negotiating one’s identities is a central life task that continues across the lifespan and occurs within specific social, cultural, and historical contexts. For persons with impairments, dominant social beliefs and ideas embedded within these contexts, are likely to shape self-perceptions and the identities individuals construct. While negative stereotypes and ideas have historically been associated with disability, this diverse group of people has strived, both collectively and individually, to resist negative characterizations. One example of these efforts is the Disability Arts Movement and within the existing literature, we find evidence that creating and sharing art can help individuals with a stigmatized difference develop less negative, and more explicitly positive disability identities (Swain, French & Cameron, 2003), as well as serving as an avenue for developing and affirming one’s valued identity as an artist (Sulewski, 2012). In this study, I build from this evidence to explore the more specific question of how Contemporary Canadian artists with physical impairments, both congenital and acquired, negotiate their multiple intersecting identities. I use disability and artist identities as entry points and investigate how art-making can be used to manage a host of other valued identities. Two theoretical frameworks, the social model of disability, and intersectional theory have guided me in this work. A narrative methodology was used to examine how identities changed over time. Participants were recruited through flyers, word of mouth, list servers, and attending community events. Twelve individuals with acquired and / or congenital physical impairments agreed to be interviewed for this research project. Participants’ identities, in particular their identity as a person with an impairment and an artist, developed and changed over time in multiple ways. These identities solidified over time but were also revised and evolved based on other life experiences. With respect to their embodied experience, they identified environmental and interpersonal challenges, the ways they coped with these challenges, as well as how these experiences informed the process of accepting themselves as persons with different bodies. Additionally, they described their artistic practise, the functions their practise played in their lives over time, and how their practise was informed by living with different bodies. Furthermore, they described their experiences at multiple life stages and in multiple contexts, including family, school, work, along with disability and artistic communities. These experiences supported the development of a host of intersecting identities. More specifically, influencing, and reinforcing both positive and negative self-perceptions tied to disability, artist, family, partner, student and community identities. The multiple ways this study built upon the existing literature and unique contributions were identified. From the results, several research and clinical practice implications were also identified

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