Disabled people's embodied and emotional geographies of (not)belonging in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

This article addresses embodied and emotional geographies of (not)belonging for disabled people in Aotearoa New Zealand. The concept of ‘embodied belonging’ is used to show that bodies, things, place and space intersect in complex ways to produce contradictory feeling of (not)belonging in ‘disability spaces’. Disability spaces can offer a direct challenge to ableism and create feelings of belonging for disabled people. They can also, however, reinforce normative identities and ideologies within and beyond disability spaces. We draw upon qualitative data collected through individual and focus group interviews, and written responses from 12 disabled people and three family members of disabled people to show that disability spaces are not inherently more inclusive of disabled people but rather bodies, things, place and space combine in various ways to produce shifting exclusionary and/or enabling arrangements. A focus on lived, felt and spatial elements of belonging to and in disability spaces can deepen understandings of what it means for disabled people to feel in and out of place.