Aly F

The Polyphony | LinkedIn The Polyphony | 271 followers on LinkedIn. Stimulates, catalyses, provokes, expands and intensifies conversations in the critical medical humanities. | The Polyphony is a web platform that aims to sti...

📣 @the-polyphony.bsky.social are now on LInkedIn! Follow this page for some of the most exciting work in the critical medical humanities, published by our talented editorial team 🤩

Disabled by Design: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Anindita Charles Xavier explores the representation of disability, state control, and body politics in Ishiguro’s novel.

How can dystopian narratives illuminate real-world structures of coercion, exclusion, and exploitation? Anindita C Xavier explores Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

thepolyphony.org/2026/01/27/n...

Whose Body is it Anyway? Epistemic Injustices in Healthcare Leo Gunn explores epistemic injustice, “a wrong done to someone specifically in their capacity as a knower” in chronic illness.

"Participants in Chronic Illness Inclusion’s research... explained that disbelief from medical professionals ‘knocked [their] self-confidence’... [they] were left wondering if they were ‘making things up’. Ultimately many were left feeling ‘worthless’."

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/22/e...

From Pandemic Stress to Nature Connection A quiet practice of attention, belonging, and rest in urban parks from Yewande Okuleye.

"Being in nature is about where your body is. Connecting is about how your attention behaves." Dr Yewande Okuleye, in our 'In Practice' series showcasing multi-modal creative engagement with the lived experience of chronic illness, disability and caregiving.

thepolyphony.org/2025/11/26/f...

Introducing “Energy Limiting Conditions”: The Emergence and Evolution of a New Impairment Concept <p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" class="first" dir="auto" id="d1540804e129">The terms “energy limiting condition” (ELC) and “energy impairment”locate the embodied e...

www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...

A Creative Approach to Engaging Black Caribbean Women in Research Rianna Raymond-Williams discusses ‘Unboxing’, a methodology taking reproductive health research to Black Caribbean women.

"Rather than asking why specific communities are ‘hard to reach’, perhaps the real question is – have they simply been easier to ignore?"

Rianna Raymond-Williams discusses 'Unboxing', a creative elicitation tool she developed for her doctoral study.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/17/e...

Thanks to everyone at and connected to @queercircle.bsky.social who's worked hard on this takeover. I've learned so much! The whole thing is now up on the site to view.

Cultivating Queer Voices for Dis-Alienation Ellc looks at how a series of vocal workshops at QUEERCIRCLE allowed queer folk to more fully embody their voices.

Finding creative ways to reclaim, recentre, and create healthier outcomes for marginalised communities: on the penultimate day of our @queercircle.bsky.social takeover, Ellc looks at how vocal workshops can allow queer folk to more fully embody their voices.

thepolyphony.org/2025/09/22/q...

Can an Institution be Malleable? Phoebe Eustance explores how institutions like QUEERCIRCLE can embrace ‘malleability’ as a radical practice.

"What forms of care, collectivity and resistance might emerge if we treat institutions not as fixed authorities but as porous, reconfigurable and responsive?"

Phoebe Eustance on their artistic research w/QUEERCIRCLE and on Institutional Psychotherapy at La Borde.

thepolyphony.org/2025/09/19/c...

What Else is Made Through Making? Anni Raw reflects on the dynamic between trust and risk set up through crafting activities at QUEERCIRCLE.

In our @queercircle.bsky.social takeover, Anni Raw "reflects on the value and risks of unspoken identity assumptions... and the ongoing work of co-curating a different kind of creative space that is specifically hospitable and safe (enough) for LGBTQ+ communities."

thepolyphony.org/2025/09/18/q...

Trans Time: Reclaiming the Trajectories of Our Lives Lu Wilson reflects on research commissioned by QUEERCIRCLE in 2024 into best practice around trans youth work.

"Many decisions about trans lives are made by people who are not trans... The aim of QUEERCIRCLE’s research commission was for trans young people to reclaim power to express what they need..."

Thank to Lu Wilson for Day 3 of our @queercircle.bsky.social takeover.

thepolyphony.org/2025/09/17/t...

Rethinking LGBTQ+ ‘Safe Spaces’ in Policy and Practice PJ Annand and Lucy Wood ask: what does the term ‘safe space’ really mean, and how does this play out in the public health field?

"Without anchoring in values, practice and accountability... ['safe space'] risks becoming a hollow signifier, more comfort than commitment."

Day 2 of the @queercircle.bsky.social takeover!

thepolyphony.org/2025/09/16/r...

Queering Creative Health Frances Williams of QUEERCIRCLE makes the case for ‘queering’ the ongoing UK public policy agenda of ‘creative health’.

Excited to share the first post of a takeover from @queercircle.bsky.social on the concept of 'queer space' as a site of health creation. Thanks to Research and Health Lead Frances Williams for setting the scene.

thepolyphony.org/2025/09/15/q...

From Non-Place to Site of Care: ESOL Meets the Medical Humanities Grace Cooke, Lorenzo Meira-Gobel and Rory Hankins ask: what might it mean to approach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teaching through the lens of the medical humanities?

"[N]avigating medical institutions in a second or third language, often under conditions shaped by trauma or displacement... medical English is... the language through which people must articulate pain, negotiate power, and, crucially, consent to treatment."

thepolyphony.org/2025/08/08/e...

Itinerant Relationality and Neurodivergent Community Praxis: Exploring Vagabond Belongings Christian Hanser describes relating via the traditional dwelling of the shepherd’s hut to spheres once inaccessible to him due to neuronormative standards in career development.

"itinerancy has become a way to craft an alternative to standardised work opportunities... largely engineered according to neurotypical models... which do not allow my neurodivergences to breathe within my professional identity." - @thewelcomehut.bsky.social

thepolyphony.org/2025/07/28/i...

Zine for Children Who Have Had to Become Caretakers Artist Priyanka Paul unsettles care work as they illustratively and poetically reckon with the reality of children caretaking for their chronically ill parents.

Artist Priyanka Paul unsettles care work as they illustratively and poetically reckon with the reality of children caretaking for their chronically ill parents.

thepolyphony.org?p=26475

On Mad[]Neurodiverse Literary Possibilities Critical Neurodiversity Studies takeover: Natasha Downs calls for literary scholars within Mad Studies and Neurodiversity Studies to engage with one another, exploring the possibilities of and just…

On Day 6 of the Critical Neurodiversity Studies takeover @tasha-tasha.bsky.social calls for literary scholars within Mad Studies & Neurodiversity Studies to engage with one another, exploring the possibilities of and justifications for a ‘Mad[]Neurodiverse’ literary analysis.
tinyurl.com/mr3dr8kc

Neurodivergent Pragmatics: Does Neurodivergent Communication Exist? Critical Neurodiversity Studies Conference Takeover: Eleonora Marocchini reflects on neurodivergent pragmatics: a new critical view of clinical pragmatics in cross-neurotype communication research …

"A critical view of neurodivergent 'compensatory strategies' [in communication] makes it possible to frame them as chameleonic survival abilities to celebrate, rather than bad mimicking of neurotypical abilities." - @marocchini.bsky.social

thepolyphony.org/2025/06/27/n...

Alternate Neurodivergent Lives: Spectral Conversations with Anh Vo Critical Neurodiversity Studies takeover: Protichi Chatterjee on neurodivergent epistemology beyond Western diagnostic frameworks, via Vietnamese choreographer Anh Vo.

"There was a possibility of thinking of neuro-divergences, some idea... that one can diverge from the Western-rationality backed classification system of mental disorders": @protichichatterjee.bsky.social on neurodivergence beyond the DSM, via Anh Vo's work.

thepolyphony.org/2025/06/26/a...

Neuroqueering in Mumbai’s M-East Ward Critical Neurodiversity Studies Conference takeover: Ren reflects on their time as a trainee school counsellor, identifying the neuroqueering practices of gender non-conforming and neurodivergent c…

Day 3 of the Critical Neurodiversity Studies takeover: "Who gets to neuroqueer consciously? Who gets to access the knowledge of neurodivergence and queerness?" - Ren, reflecting on training as a school counsellor at Apnishala Foundation’s Khoj School, Mumbai.

thepolyphony.org/2025/06/25/n...

Prospects for Neurodivergent Liberation Theology Theological ethicists Caleb Day and Jonathan Dunn track the emergence of neurodivergent liberation theologies as part of the Critical Neurodiversity Studies Conference takeover.

"There are illuminating commonalities between prophets and neurodivergent people navigating neurocognitive/value dissonance with oppressive systems, unwilling/unable to tolerate falsehood and oppression". C Day and J Dunn in Critical Neurodiversity Studies takeover.

thepolyphony.org/2025/06/24/p...

Beyond excited to be working on this, as well as attending the conference online!

Thank you!

Love this. I still mask in public and it is def stigmatised. Most disabled people I know do not mask and many do not accommodate my masking. I am routinely excluded from social events because I think people find even being out with a masked person embarrassing/ difficult.

I recently saw, and forgot to note, a Judith Butler quote about misconceptions around gender performativity. It included something about there being no pre-gendered subject; it not being the case that people get up in the am and decide what gender to perform. Can anyone point me to that quote? TIA!

Please sign and share widely - Liverpool Hope is one of *the* centres for cultural Disability Studies research. This threat is a threat to the field itself and to its important commitment to challenging societal prejudices and advocating for social justice through cultural analysis.

Refractions of a Relapse Through Ekphrasis Arlene Jackson reflects on a photomontage created by the artist Ashley Cook, in light of her chronic illness relapse.

Practice research from @arlenejackson.bsky.social: "Folklore has it that one who wears a wreath of bluebell heads will only speak the truth... my narrative... lands in reality to acknowledge that... Illness is not a comeuppance for slighting the natural world."

thepolyphony.org/2025/05/23/r...

Vinia Dakari and I have received amazing response to our call and have decided to extend the deadline until 21st May to allow more scholars and artists to contribute who are navigating heavy semester workload. Here’s the link: call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/11/...

Poetry as Chronic Illness Research: ‘Another Attempt’ Jane Hartshorn’s poetry experiments within the contradictory and temporary spaces of chronic illness, reflecting rather than controlling the experience.

"If we imagine the poem is a body, is it possible to map the experience of chronic illness onto the space of the page?"

Thanks to Jane Hartshorn for this latest exploration of creative practice research in our new 'In Practice' project.

thepolyphony.org/2025/05/08/p...