Considering Inclusive Research Methodologies

In this iHuman and Disability Staff Network seminar we rethink normative methodologies of research. We consider embodiment, emotion, accessibility, inclusion, and disability to generate new ways of thinking about research practice and process.

• To learn more about iHuman, please see here.
• To learn more about the Disability Staff Network at the University of Sheffield, please see here.

Problematising Inclusivity through Narrative-Ethnographic Approaches

Laura Sanmiquel Molinero, University of Barcelona

In this seminar, I will present the research techniques I have used in my doctoral research in order to problematise “adjustment to a disability” from a Critical Disability Studies lens, and discuss in what ways they have been ‘inclusive’ (or not) and for whom. First, I will outline the epistemological and ethical-political foundations of Narrative Production Methodology, as well as what combining it with ethnographic approaches has entailed. Second, I will explore how the choice of these techniques has impacted my understanding of inclusivity as a three-pronged process that involves: (a) the researcher; (b) the researched; and (c) research phenomena that emerge when these two interact. I will illustrate this through two examples (1) Embodied exclusions and inclusions of doing ethnographic and narrative approaches as a disabled researcher. (2) The importance of including space-time: the emergence of disability as an ever-expanded ‘meanwhile’ state, and adjustment to it as a matter of ‘being (un)affected’ by impairment and dis/ableism. I conclude by pointing out some unresolved tensions regarding the potentialities and limits of my narrative-ethnographic methodological arsenal.

Co-production Research as a Crip Space

Katy Evans, Sally Whitney-Mitchell and Kirsty Liddiard, School of Education and iHuman, University of Sheffield

In this talk, we propose and situate co-production as a Crip space and detail the politics and practicalities of co-produced disability research with disabled young people. We centre an arts-informed, co-produced research project – Living Life to the Fullest (ESRC 2017-2020, University of Sheffield) – that brought together a Co-Researcher Collective of disabled young people. In doing so, we show the ways we have developed inclusive research practices that engage with online, collaborative and artistic social research methods in innovative ways.

Biographies

Sally Whitney-Mitchell is an academic researcher with a specialist interest in the lives of disabled young people, their access to work and the impact of assistance dogs in their lives. Using methods of co-production and virtual technologies, Sally works and writes (both academically and for wider audiences) from the comfort of her home as a co-researcher in various projects with the University of Sheffield, Scope, Youth Employment UK, Canine Partners, and the Open University. She has consequently led the Canine Care project in collaboration with Canine Partners, who partnered her with her own assistance dog Ethan. Both Ethan, and Sally’s strong faith, have helped her navigate her chronic, complex illnesses and spur her passion to make the most of every situation.

Katy Evans works as an associate for a rights-based organisation which champions the rights of disabled people and people with mental health difficulties to live ordinary lives. Katy was also an advisor to the government during the 2014 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms. Alongside this, she worked with the Council for Disabled Children to improve co-production with disabled young people nationally. Katy writes about her lived experiences of disability and being a trauma survivor and her difficulty accessing appropriate, non-pathologising mental health services. She will soon began a MSc in Mad Studies. She has been a co-researcher on the Living Life to the Fullest Project for four years and is keen to continue research in this field. She tweets at @KatyRoseEvans

Kirsty Liddiard is currently a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield and a theme co-leader in iHuman. She is the author of The Intimate Lives of Disabled People (2018; Routledge) and the co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of Disabled Children’s Childhood Studies (2018; Palgrave) with Tillie Curran and Katherine Runswick-Cole. She tweets at @kirstyliddiard1

Laura Sanmiquel Molinero completed a BSc in Psychology in the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 2017, after completing a dissertation on disability and subjectification. She continued approaching Critical Disability Studies while taking a Master’s Degree in Psychosocial Research and Intervention (UAB; 2017-2018). In September 2018, Laura started a PhD in Social Psychology at the UAB, and obtained a FPU grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Her current research problematises the so-called process of ‘adjustment to disability’ by combining the concepts provided by dis/ability studies and liminality theories. Laura is currently an International Visiting Researcher in iHuman.

Access

– This online event will run for a maximum of 1 hour, with no scheduled break.

– The event consists of two talks, of around 20 minutes each, and a question and answer (Q&A) session. You can use your video and microphone and the chat box to engage in the Q&A – whatever is most comfortable to you.

– There is no requirement to have your microphone and/or camera on during the event.

– Slides will be available before the event. Please email k.liddiard@sheffield.ac.uk

– To access captions/subtitles for the event, these need to be turned on by individual attendees. There is an option in Google Chrome to do this – see here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/apse/digital/collaborate/chromecaptions

If you have any questions regarding accessibility, or there is anything we can do to make this event more accessible to you, please email Kirsty on k.liddiard@sheffield.ac.uk