From conceptualisation to seeing the light of publication, this paper has taken us over 5 years to get to this finish line. Through various iterations, submissions and rejections we pressed on. At many points along the road I was ready to throw in the towel and count our sunken costs. I am grateful to my co-author Seonyoung Kim who kept us motivated and showed we had the capability (pun intended) to get this important research out to the world. We are therefore delighted to share with you the fruits of our labour in this publication on rethinking accessible tourism research in the light of Amartya Sen’s capability approach.
In this paper, we highlight the relevance of the capability approach, in particular, the concepts of functionings and capabilities, to accessible tourism, and demonstrate how this approach can enrich our conceptualization of accessible tourism and contribute to the theoretical advancement of the field. We show how integrating the capability approach into accessible tourism research allows us to see and undo the dominant ableist discourse. This is accomplished by promoting new accessible tourism research inquiries that are more participatory and inclusive. Our analysis also identifies the ways in which the capability approach gives prominence to people with disabilities’ (PWD) choices and agency in translating the opportunity to travel (capability) to the act of travelling (functioning). Thus, a positive agency-based starting point is afforded to accessible tourism research through the capability approach in which PwD are seen as active in exercising their choices and agency based on their diverse motivations, interests, and preferences.
The article is Open Access and freely available to download. It is accessible (pun intended) through this link and below…
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13683500.2023.2300989
Disabilities, functionings and capabilities: the capability approach in accessible tourism
Seonyoung Kim & Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong
ABSTRACT
In this conceptual paper, through the introduction of Sen’s capability approach we seek to make a significant contribution to accessible tourism research. The capability approach offers a flexible yet sophisticated theoretical framework to evaluate individuals’ achieved wellbeing and wellbeing opportunities. Drawing on the concepts of functionings and capabilities we show the conceptual leaps that can be made when prominence is given to the diversity and agency of persons with disabilities in translating the opportunity to travel (capability) to the act of travelling (functioning). The capability approach can help build a more complete understanding of what either enables or hampers travel for persons with disabilities and we identify three relevant areas for accessible tourism research – non-market resources and conversion factors, individuals’ agency and choices, and policies and interdisciplinary work. We see persons with disabilities as active in exercising their choices and agency and highlight how the capability approach can enable researchers to see and undo existing dominant ableist discourse through more interdisciplinary inquiries. The capability approach helps accessible tourism scholars broaden their horizons and develop more comprehensive understanding of how tourism can help a person to lead a life they value regardless of their disability.
KEYWORDS:
Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong 