Embodiment and authenticity: how embodied research might shed light on experiences of disability and chronic illness

Embodiment as a term is becoming widely used in mainstream society, and is generally associated with the physical body in some way. However, the definition of embodiment is more esoteric and is defined by the lexicographers at Oxford Dictionary as “a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling” (Oxford Dictionary, 2019), and as such has no immediate connection with the physical, lived, and experienced body. There are a number of theoretical positions on the meaning of the term embodiment, and this has implications for the ways in which it has been used to conceptualise lived experience. My position is that embodiment incorporates a conscious self-awareness of the information, sensations, proprioception, images, feelings and emotions that arise from the body and the mind. In this chapter I will briefly explore differences of understanding and conceptualisations of embodiment, reflect on how I understand and use the concept of embodiment and embodied and how this in turn impacts on the generation of knowledge and research that gives us an insight into embodied experience. I will show how this is particularly relevant for those interested in researching the experiences of those with embodied differences such as those with disability, chronic illness or neurodiversity.