Anti-ableist pedagogy through the arts : portraits of inclusive artmaking with children and families

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Cologon, Kathy and Mevawalla, Zinnia and Karaolis, Olivia (2026) Anti-ableist pedagogy through the arts : portraits of inclusive artmaking with children and families. International Art in Early Childhood Research Journal, 2026. ISSN 1837-0020

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Abstract

This paper explores how visual art can be made ‘visible’ beyond sight through inclusive art making with 16 young children and their families. Drawing on a yearlong community playgroup project, the study is grounded in anti-ableist pedagogy, Lundy’s (2007) model of participation, and Malaguzzi’s (1996) concept of the ‘hundred languages of children.’ Using portraiture methodology (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997), the research captures lived moments of sensory-rich art making where participation unfolded as relational, multimodal, and transformative. Six portraits are presented within this paper. Each illustrates how children’s ‘voices’ were expressed through touch, rhythm, gesture, experimentation, memory, and laughter, and how the children’s perspectives influenced curriculum and pedagogy. Rather than treating inclusion as ‘accommodation’ or ‘adaptation’, taking an anti-ableist stance from the outset created opportunities to remake the pedagogical space itself as a place for everyone, enriching the experiences of all children. The findings of this study highlight the potentiality of inclusive artmaking as a site of agency, joy, and belonging. In this study we argue that when educators begin from antiableist pedagogy and a presumption of all, participation is not only possible but generative.

ORCID iDs

Cologon, Kathy, Mevawalla, Zinnia ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9590-1949 and Karaolis, Olivia;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)