Care on the move: active travel and the everyday mobilities of children with non-visible disabilities

As transport systems are currently being redesigned to include forms of active travel (i.e. walking, cycling), the need for transport to be more accessible has been addressed in a range of urban and transport policy arenas. Yet a significant onus of making transport accessible and inclusive is often on those who have specific accessibility needs and constraints. Furthermore, the emphasis of such engagements is predominantly on physical impairment with non-visible disabilities rarely addressed to the same extent. Non-visible disabilities can include mental health conditions, autism, sensory processing difficulties, and chronic pain, among others. They can be experienced in combination with visible disabilities but are not typically specifically addressed by physical infrastructures for accessibility. To negotiate them, people often engage in practices of care while on the move, which can include planning ahead for, managing, and modifying the sensory environments of mobile spaces (eg. train stations; crowded sidewalks; motorway service stations), dealing with incredulous strangers and transport workers, and providing assistance and comfort. In view of such difficulties, it is surprising that so little attention has been paid to non-visible disability. In particular, no study has systematically analysed how and why the practices of 'care on the move' by families with non-visibly disabled children are distinctive. Existing studies have tended to focus on the material infrastructures of mobility. Whilst these studies have revealed key insights, the central argument of this project is that there is a pressing need to gain a greater understanding of the mobility infrastructures, tangible as well as ephemeral, which are created through the physical, emotional, and logistical labour performed by families on the move. For families with children with non-visible disabilities, the labour of enacting mobilities in general, and car-free mobilities in particular, can be extensive. However, this labour remains poorly understood especially in the context of active travel. The focus remains on discrete individual transport users conceptualised as unencumbered adults, which is pervasive in transport research and policy.

A varied sample of families living in different areas of Oxford and Swindon will be recruited through local schools and disability support organisations. There are several reasons why understanding the mobility challenges experienced by families 'caring on the move' in the context of children with non-visible disabilities is important. Non-visible disability is frequently neglected within broader debates around inclusive active travel. Finding innovative ways of supporting the caring practices of these families will have a considerable impact on their decision-making in relation to adopting more low-carbon forms of transport such as walking and cycling. How families everyday mobilities relate to inclusive forms of active travel also has something important to add to key policy agendas centering on accessibility and ways of making everyday lives in cities more liveable and just. As such, this project will develop theoretical insights in relation to the lived experience of contemporary mobility in order to provide important new perspectives on the everyday mobilities of families caring for children with non-visible disabilities. Our belief is that it is only by paying close attention to these experiences that we will fully understand the challenges and the different types of labour involved in 'caring on move' in the context of non-visible disability and broader shifts towards forms of active travel where there is scope for important interventions that deliver across policy, mobility justice, and inclusive transport objectives.