Over the past decade, discourses on disabled and marginalized groups have been intertwined in a complex manner and contradictory. These groups are portrayed as lacking agency amid global crises like pandemics, climate change, economic instability, and conflict (Ito, 2014; Bressanelli & Natali, 2023; Jørgensen et al, 2023; Henig & Knight, 2023). Concurrently, they're sometimes seen as straining welfare systems. In the project "Cov_Enable: Reimagining Vulnerabilities in times of crisis" (FWF Project P 34641), we focus on the traveling nature of the concept of vulnerability within the life course domains of inclusive education and supported housing in context of dis/ability (Koenig, Mandl & Reisenbauer, under review). This study highlights the critical role of perspective in shaping narratives and the implicit choices in research. Previously, we examined vulnerability as a complex, layered phenomenon (Luna, 2019), challenging traditional views of inherent vulnerability as individual traits residing in individuals. This presentation aims to discuss two transformative perspectives that have altered our methodological approach. Firstly, we explore agential realism and Posthumanist perspectives (Naraian & Amrhein, 2022), enriching our understanding of vulnerability. These concepts, particularly 'agential cuts' and the apparatus of knowing in agential realism (Barad, 2014), are well suited to explore how our research perspectives potentially reaffirm stereotypical representations of individuals with disabilities as passive and tragic figures. Secondly, and as a countering perspective we draw upon the work of Dokumaci (2023), whose research portrays people with disabilities neither as victims nor as drains on resources but rather as active participants in their own lives. Engaged in “activist affordances,” which extend beyond “activism in the traditional sense,” disabled persons are revealed be consistently engaged in “acts of world-building” or “performative affordances” within their daily lives as they negotiate and overcome barriers (Dokumanci, 2023, p. 5). These perspectives, as argued and demonstrated through case study analysis from our project, offer a nuanced, interconnected view of vulnerability. They pave the way for research approaches that are responsive, ethical, and attuned to the realities and agencies of individuals with disabilities. This approach underscores the concept of 'response-ability' in research, highlighting the need to respect and acknowledge the complexities of the subjects and contexts studied whilst emphasizing our duty as researchers to acknowledge and respect the complexities of the subjects and contexts we study. Such a perspective aligns with the conference's theme by recognizing the role of memory and hope in shaping future educational landscapes (Sharpe, 2013).

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