Chantal Spencer

I’m a disabled feminist academic, working in the subject areas of design justice, disability justice and mobilities. I consider myself to be a maker, designer, artist and disability rights activist. I'm currently in the first year of my PhD studentship at the University of Brighton. I am also an associate Lecturer at LCC university (UAL) in London, where I bring my expertise and knowledge of social and design justice to the curriculum. My previous professional experience includes working for large organisations like the NHS and Brighton and Hove city council in various roles relating to health and social care. Since becoming disabled, I have shifted my focus toward activism within the disabled community, especially in the arts scene in Brighton and Hove. I established and events organisation called VisAbility Arts between 2018 and 2021, our mission was to empower artists living with invisible disabilities by creating accessible spaces for them to sell and exhibit their work. Currently, I am a disabled panel member for Brighton and Hove's accessible city strategy, founder of the DiscReg (Disability Culture Research Group) and chair of the University of Brighton disabled and carer's staff network.

My PhD explores legacies of oppression that exist within traditional participatory design and research methodologies.My work aims to move beyond prevailing ideologies of inclusivity, particularly those formulated by individuals in positions of power. I instead argue that radical philosophical shifts in thinking are needed, where those who are conventionally designated as the recipients of inclusivity lead the discourse. My work aims to rethink design and research methodologies from an ontological perspective enabling new ways of mobilising marginalised communities. This focus on mobilities over participation enables designers and researchers to practice working within frameworks that actively dismantle these legacies of oppression.