The Researched Opinions on Research: disabled people and disability research

Thirty-five disabled people with a range of physical, sensory and mental im pairments were interviewed about (I) their experiences of research (2) thei r general opinions concerning research; (3) whether they thought research h ad served/was serving disabled people well; (4) how research sit disability should be conducted; (5) who should conduct research on disability; and, f inally, (6) what they would like to be researched. In this paper, the resul ts of aspects two to five are reported. It was found that the opinions of d isabled people mirror quite strongly the recent arguments forwarded by disa bled academics concerning the need for emancipatory and empowering research strategies, in particular, the respondents articulated a need for inclusiv e, action-based research strategies, where disabled people are involved as consultants and partners not just as research subjects, There were few argu ments, however, for an exclusive approach, where disability research would be conducted solely by researchers who were themselves disabled.