What Is Expressed Through Non-Symbolic Movements in Warm Water? A Phenomenological Study of Embodied Expressivity When People Have Intellectual Disabilities and Additional Diagnoses

In this article, I examine how four men with moderate, severe, or profound intellectual disabilities, along with additional diagnoses, express their experiences while moving in a warm water pool. Using embodied phenomenology and the phenomenology of water as a theoretical framework, and the phenomenology of perception and the phenomenology of practice as methodological tools, I argue that movement is a valid form of expressivity and communication. By asking what is expressed through non-symbolic movements in warm water, I question how disability researchers typically include participants capable of symbolic communication. When those who cannot communicate symbolically are included in research, their perspectives are often interpreted and conveyed by proxies. This article examines how embodied freedom, shaped by a non-interventional approach to movement, fosters expressive possibilities even when disabilities are complex. This illustrates a possible epistemological shift in disability research.