Co-constructing inclusion and anti-ableism through the mosaic approach
Background: Creating a more inclusive world requires attention to how children make meaning about disability, access, and belonging. Toys that represent disability can support children’s inclusive and anti-ableist meaning-making, but research suggests representation alone is not enough to support inclusion. Further, while toys can reflect dominant social values, children do not passively receive their intended meanings; they reinterpret meanings as they engage with the toys.
Aim: This paper reports on a study exploring how a child-led, relational, and creative design can support meaning-making about anti-ableism and inclusion.
Method/approach: This small-scale study is in partnership between a 5-year-old, non-disabled child, her mother, and a researcher, initiated by the child’s curiosity about Wicked’s ‘Nessa Rose’ and accessibility. Informed by a pedagogy of listening and the mosaic approach, toys representing disability are used as provocations for play-based, creative methods. The child led the study through her questions and play interests. Data include reflections, dialogue, and child-created materials, analysed qualitatively to examine how meanings about disability and inclusion are co-constructed. Ethical approval, parent consent, and ongoing child assent were obtained.
Results/findings: The findings suggest that genuine listening is not passive. It involves engaging in dialogue that both supports and extends children’s thinking, while also creating space for adults to reflect alongside children and reconsider their own assumptions – in this case, about inclusion and disability.
Conclusion: Effective teaching about inclusion begins with creating spaces where children’s views are taken seriously and understandings of inclusion can be co-constructed through play and reflective dialogue.
Implications for children and families: You are valuable contributors to knowledge about inclusion, not merely recipients of adult or teacher understandings.
Implications for practitioners: You can support anti-ableist pedagogy by thinking alongside children about inclusion, rather than treating inclusion as something adults simply ‘teach’ children.
Keywords: Mosaic approach, anti-ableism, inclusion, toys, representation, disability, play, early childhood education
This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions