Alternative explanations for disability: Inspiring patient-centered care among healthcare practitioners through the arts

The project is an interdisciplinary and public engagement project that brings together academics, healthcare workers and persons with disabilities in three different African countries to collectively and creatively understand and challenge deeply rooted philosophies and beliefs about disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa and their impact on access to healthcare for persons with disabilities. 

From 2020 to 2023, Charlotte Baker (Principal Investigator) at Lancaster University and Elvis Imafidon (Co-investigator) carried out the AHRC-funded project titled "Alternative Explanations: Disability and Inclusion in Africa. The project explored indigenous philosophies and ontologies of disability in Africa and how they impact the lives of persons with disabilities. 

This current project which began in September 2023 is a follow-on project funded by the AHRC Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement. This follow-on project engages applied theatre, creative writing and philosophical reflection to stimulate dialogue and reflection to enhance healthcare practitioners' understandings of the experience of being disabled in sub-Saharan African contexts. 

A series of workshops facilitated by theatre and creative writing practitioners will be held in Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa, bringing together disabled persons and healthcare practitioners to reflect on what it means to be disabled in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa, and how indigenous understandings of disability may impact access to healthcare.