Dis/ability in nature-based tourism: a poststructuralist perspective

Abstract

People with impairments face exclusion from full participation in nature-based tourism. However, few tourism scholars have linked issues of marginalization and social justice to dis/ability. We draw on a poststructuralist perspective, critical disability studies, and empirical insights from sea-kayakers to examine the material-discursive construction of dis/ability in contemporary scholarship and practice. The findings scrutinize the power of language and dominant concepts in perpetuating a dichotomous understanding of dis/ability, often associated with implicit, normative, and ableist convictions about the human body. In contrast, our empirical insights contest the static, categorical representations of dis/ability inherently linked to impairment. We also question whether benevolent social and ethical initiatives can meaningfully comprehend matters of dis/ability and advance inclusion without deeper onto-epistemological engagement into discursive, relational, and embodied understandings of dis/ability in nature-based tourism research and practice. A humble, reflexive contention with bodily diversity–including challenging one’s own understanding of dis/ability–is foundational for achieving the ethical imperative of a universally accessible nature-based tourism.