Abstract
This paper presents a disabled researcher’s reflection on communication and power relations experienced through direct participation in an Inclusive Design Workshop in Tokyo. It explores how designers collaborated with welfare facility communities to develop inclusive ideas and practices. The study conceptualises inclusion as a relational process that extends beyond accessibility compliance, shaped through communication, emotion, and care. Through a reflexive ethnography that combined participant observation and multimodal analysis, four key themes emerged: Communication Barriers, Effective Communication, Effective Operation of Design Decisions, and Responding to Communication Strategies. Insights suggest that institutional hierarchies and emotional asymmetries often acted to hinder participation but could also open up opportunities for mutual learning and role reconfiguration. The paper argues that genuine inclusion arises not from removing all barriers but from sustained relational engagement, redefining disability as a source of shared and situated knowledge and ethical collaboration within inclusive design practice.
Keywords
inclusive design, relational inclusion, communication, welfare collaboration
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1381
Citation
Zhang, Z., Kettley, S., and Sile, A. (2026) Rethinking Communication and Power Relations in a Collaboration between Designers and Welfare Communites/Organisations, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1381
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Rethinking Communication and Power Relations in a Collaboration between Designers and Welfare Communites/Organisations
This paper presents a disabled researcher’s reflection on communication and power relations experienced through direct participation in an Inclusive Design Workshop in Tokyo. It explores how designers collaborated with welfare facility communities to develop inclusive ideas and practices. The study conceptualises inclusion as a relational process that extends beyond accessibility compliance, shaped through communication, emotion, and care. Through a reflexive ethnography that combined participant observation and multimodal analysis, four key themes emerged: Communication Barriers, Effective Communication, Effective Operation of Design Decisions, and Responding to Communication Strategies. Insights suggest that institutional hierarchies and emotional asymmetries often acted to hinder participation but could also open up opportunities for mutual learning and role reconfiguration. The paper argues that genuine inclusion arises not from removing all barriers but from sustained relational engagement, redefining disability as a source of shared and situated knowledge and ethical collaboration within inclusive design practice.