Leni Van Goidsenhoven

Leni Van Goidsenhoven is a Professor at Ghent University (UGent) in Belgium, where her interdisciplinary work bridges Disability Studies, Social Sciences, and Performing Arts with a focus on dismantling ableism through narrative and performative methodologies.

Her research centers on:

• Critical examination of disability representation in autism studies
• Development of counterstory frameworks for inclusive higher education
• Heterotopian imagination as a tool for social inclusion
• Dialogical methodologies challenging normative structures
• Animation and performance as knowledge production

Publication analysis reveals a progressive trajectory from autism representation toward systemic critiques of academic accessibility. Her work consistently employs qualitative inquiry to expose how institutional architectures privilege able-bodied experiences, with recent scholarship emphasizing narrative interventions that empower marginalized voices through collaborative storytelling and spatial reimagination.