Science
Credit: AUNTS
Image description: A close up photo of Audre from the elbows up reading from a paper by L Tuthall into a microphone. She is in front of a hot pink background, in a yellow swimsuit with a white and blue striped towel over her shoulders. Her hair is messily pulled up and she wears lab goggles. The microphone juts out in front of her face, perfectly covering her left eye. A hot pink cord hangs from the back of the microphone.
I combine sensorimotor theory with values of Disability Justice to develop hypotheses, theoretical models, practices, and standards of care that address Research & Medical Industrial Complex (RIC & MIC) barriers to Hypermobile care access. The RIC perpetuates deeply ableist biases that take away health autonomy, basing care access on privilege and economic productivity, while simultaneously placing the responsibility on individuals for the many public health crises in the United States.
I am interested in autonomic and volitional motor processes, proprioception as maintenance of automatic and volitional motor systems, connective tissue-related systems change, and anti-ableist approaches to proprioception, sensory integration, motor coordination, and quality of life care.
What is People’s Science?
Science Bio
Audre practices People’s Science to reduce medical harm (“iatrogenic injury”), and increase quality of life with data that affirms and supports disabled livelihood and health autonomy.
Audre has presented at the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS), the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA), Movementis at Harvard Medical School, the University of Washington (UW), Washington University St. Louis (WUStL), New York Institute of Technology Medical School (NYIT), and Bennington College. She has published in Brain, Body, Cognition, among others. Her most recent work was the selected presentation at physician day for IADMS 2021. She is the patient expert on the neurology consortium for the EDS Society though they have never contacted her for a contributing perspective, of which she has many.
Audre collaborates with Dr. Elinor Harrison at Washington University St. Louis & Dr. Harlan Fichtenholtz at Keene State College.
People with the experience of disability should ask the questions, design methodology, and interpret data. The presumption that third-party scientific ‘objectivity’ reduces bias is eugenic, thinly veiling the bottom line in medicine: cutting cost for billions in profit while improving society’s labor market. This has led to harm and abuse of disabled communities, and strengthens savior complexes in (primarily white) non-disabled leadership with the goal to eliminate disability (ex. Autism $peaks). Ableism is inherently racialized and is a central imperialist tactic of oppression and control.
Publications
Wirtanen A, and Fichtenholtz HM (2019). Alexander Technique exposure and physiological measures of movement planning and execution. Brain, Body, Cognition.
*Note: Audre does not recommend Alexander Technique for hypermobility management due to risk of injury and increased spinal instability compounded by the lack of medical care available to hypermobile people
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Fokas EE, Parnandi AR, Venkatesan A, G Pandit NG, Wirtanen A, Nilsen DM, Schambra HM (2022). Dual-tasking in daily activities in adults with and without stroke. American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 77(1)
Parnandi A, Venkatesan A, Pandit N, Wirtanen A, Fokas E, Kim G, Schambra H (2021). Estimating impairment from functional task performance. American Society of Neuroradiology.
Schambra HM, Parnandi A, Pandit NG, Uddin J, Wirtanen A, Nilsen DG (2019). A taxonomy of functional upper extremity motion. Front. Neur.
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Parnandi A, Venkatesan A, Pandit N, Wirtanen A, Fokas E, Kim G, Schambra H (2022) a deep learning-based pipeline to quantitate rehabilitation training. PLOS Digital Health.
Wirtanen A, Tuthall L, Ly A, San-Millan I, Fichtenholtz H. Hypermobile Accessible Proprioceptive Therapy (HAPT) as symptom management strategy for EDS/HSD: a pilot study.