Taking Power, Telling Stories: Using Collaborative Autoethnography to Explore Transitions to Adulthood with and without Disability Identities

Abstract

This article explores collaborative autoethnography as a research method with emancipatory and unifying potential. We undertake this exploration via our shared stories of transitioning to adulthood through the lenses of identifying as living with and without disabilities. The article offers two important contributions: a deeper understanding of the ways in which disability identities relate to experiences of adulthood; and insights into the ways in which caring and collaborative autoethnographic methods can be applied in lived experience research. We found that adult identities were formed through acts of resistance and transitions to new relationships that exemplified a social relational model of disability. We found that collaborative autoethnography can be a valuable method for lived experience research that challenges power dynamics and subjectivities. A safe space in which researchers balance vulnerability and strengths can bring joy to research, even amidst the sharing of difficult stories.

Keywords

• autoethnography
• lived experience research
• adulthood
• disability
• self-care