Access as Method: Adaptive, Embodied, and Disability-Centered Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:45 pm - Gold 3

Session Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This roundtable features researchers advancing qualitative methodologies that center disability, neurodiversity, and practitioner knowledge. Papers examine inclusive research designs across contexts, including work with students with intellectual disabilities, neurodiverse youth in computational learning, and in-service teachers theorizing justice-oriented pedagogy. Each study engages methodological risk, accessibility, and epistemological adaptation as necessary to equitable knowledge production. Together, the papers challenge dominant assumptions about validity, participation, and rigor—reframing method as a flexible, embodied, and relational process. The session contributes to methodological discourse by foregrounding the transformative potential of inclusive research practices and expanding what counts as theory, data, and rigor in qualitative inquiry.

Sub Unit

• Division D - Measurement and Research Methodologies / Division D - Section 3: Qualitative Methodologies

Chair

• Kristen Smigielski, University at Buffalo - SUNY / CELaRAI

Papers

• From Lived Experience to Theory: Developing the Equity and Justice Framework for Inclusive Teaching - Kristen Smigielski, University at Buffalo - SUNY / CELaRAI

• Neurodiverse Spacetimemattering: Methodological Examples - Corey Reutlinger, Arizona State University; Mirka E. Koro, Arizona State University; Seth Thorn, Arizona State University; Margarita Pivovarova, Arizona State University; Anani M. Vasquez, Neurodiversity Education Research Center; Olivia Herneddo, Arizona State University

• Qualitative Inquiry with Participants with Intellectual Disabilities: Methodological Transformation through Accessibility-Adaptability as Risk - Andres A. Arrazola, Florida International University