ABSTRACT

Drama, with its basis in play, is a social and highly accessible art form, and can be understood as a great equaliser. This chapter provides examples of two research projects that have brought together people with and without disability to work creatively together. In the first, actors with disability draw upon their expertise in drama to teach pre-service teachers about barriers to inclusion and inclusive education practices. In a second project, actors with intellectual disability work with school-aged students in a project in which each group teaches the other. In both of these projects power and leadership is shared. The drama experiences not only explore and celebrate diversity, but offer examples of equality and inclusion in action, and are potentially transformative for all participants. An additional layer of inclusive practice is the use of arts-based research methods to collect data, in an approach that provides opportunities for active and embodied participation in the research that is accessible to all. The chapter offers practical examples of drama activities and approaches for bringing together diverse groups for drama in ways that allow for equal participation, careful listening and close attention to the other, and also a shared sense of beauty and joy.