Embodied expressiveness: Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities’ interactions with professionals

BACKGROUND: This article addresses epistemological challenges arising when children who communicate through gestures are excluded from disability research. We encourage researchers to incorporate the gestures of these children into future research projects. METHOD: By methodically analysing embodied phenomenological anecdotes and considering the works of Merleau-Ponty and Foucault, we illustrate how professionals foster embodied interactions and use queer objects in educational settings. RESULTS: The results show how professional practitioners exhibited perception, patience and interpretation of the children's gestures, which seem reliable due to the value of everyday life experiences. CONCLUSION: Perception, patience and interpretation can serve as key methodological cornerstones for qualitative researchers aiming to expand epistemologies. When epistemologies expand, power is redistributed, allowing researchers to learn from others close to children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities and to investigate their lifeworlds.