Grant: Operating Grant: College and Community Innovation Social Innovation Fund

Arts-Based Knowledge Translation; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Co-Creation; Embodiment; Immersive Technologies; Intersectoral; Non-Verbal Communication; Parkinson'S Disease; Participatory Research; Performing Arts

<html> <head> </head> <body> Individuals living with neurological conditions have bodily, sensory, and felt (embodied) experiences that differ significantly from the status quo, and are notoriously difficult to put into words. This is the case in Parkinson's disease which is marked by drastic and continuous changes in the body, and in autism, which includes differences in sensory processing, motor behaviour and social interaction. Given the centrality of communication in how we understand and relate to one another, an over-reliance on words creates significant barriers to interpersonal connection and empathy, causes misalignment between scientific research and community needs, and leads to the social exclusion and stigmatization of persons with embodied differences. This project brings together neuroscientific researchers, performing artists and members of the Parkinson's disease or autism community to explore how the arts may help connect, communicate and co-create across differences when words fall short. Our long-term goal is to support interpersonal relationships and social inclusion by expanding communication to modalities that make space for embodied experiences. To this end, we develop arts- and technology-based approaches to foreground the body and the senses in research and to facilitate exchange between different experiences, perspectives and knowledge bases. Our previous work, Piece of Mind, demonstrated the capacity of the performing arts to act as a bridge between neuroscientific and lived experience communities, and to move audiences to a better understanding for people living with Parkinson&#8217;s disease or dementia. Building on this success with the artistic, knowledge translation and advocacy expertise of our interdisciplinary research team and diverse community partners, we aim to: 1) Pilot an art-science-community program to foster connection across knowledge bases and experiences of Parkinson&#8217;s disease. 2) Characterize how different artistic formats shape the communication and audience reception of lived and embodied experiences. 3) Connect scientific, artistic and community partners for the co-creation of creative solutions to communicating embodied experiences on the autism spectrum. Through this multi-pronged approach to addressing communication needs around Parkinson's disease and autism, we hope to better understand and innovate non-verbal modalities for more inclusive models of research, healthcare and social participation. PROTECTED B </body> </html>