“I was Excited by the Idea of a Project that Focuses on those Unasked Questions” Co‐Producing Disability Research with Disabled Young People

Abstract

In this article, we detail the politics and practicalities of co‐produced disability research with disabled young people with life‐limiting and life‐threatening impairments. We centre an ESRC‐funded arts‐informed co‐produced research project that has brought together a Co‐Researcher Collective of disabled young people. Co‐production is an established approach; however, our co‐researchers have led us to develop inclusive research practices that engage with online social research methods in innovative ways. As we detail our experiences, we aim to encourage disability studies researchers and others to adopt virtual environments when researching with and for the lives of disabled people.

Working the edges of Posthuman disability studies: theorising with disabled young people with life‐limiting impairments

“…However, it has also gone on to further mediate the ways in which we have undertaken key aspects of the project to proffer new forms of inquiry: data collection; collaborative analysis; project co‐leadership; and dissemination of the process and making impact (see Liddiard et al . ). Co‐researching has impacted on our shared theoretical thinking in relation to life, death and disability.…”

“…, , Goodley , Liddiard et al . ). Our work centres around a key question:

What does it mean to be human in the 21st Century and in what ways does disability enhance these meanings?… We also ponder what it might mean to be DisHuman; ways of being in the world where disability illuminates a moment of reflection for humanity, and contests deep‐rooted productions of the archetypal human and neoliberal citizen as self‐contained, autonomous, independent, strong and self‐governing’ (dishuman.com)

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“…This been an inclusive and accessible means of practicing research with young people with significant medical, care and access needs due to online spaces being typically more malleable to different embodiments, capabilities and bodily functions (see Liddiard 2013, Seymour 2001). However, it has also gone on to further mediate the ways in which we have undertaken key aspects of the project to proffer new forms of inquiry: data collection; collaborative analysis; project coleadership; and dissemination of the process and making impact (see Liddiard et al 2018).…”

“…Co‐Researchers have (i) supported research design and planning; (ii) co‐written interview schedules and carried out data collection with fellow young people through qualitative semi‐structured interviews via new social technologies; (iii) recruited participants and developed relationships with impact partners via their own networks; (iv) co‐led the research process and collaborative analysis through meetings, workshops and as contributors to a broader Research Management Team of academics, parents, and representatives and partners from disability and arts organisations; (v) written blogs and made a short documentary film (The Co‐Researcher Collective, ); (vi) presented at conferences; and (vii) co‐written articles for publication (Liddiard et al . ) (fittingly, we have co‐authored and revised this article through online discussions via Skype and the use of a shared Google document). These critical contributions have meant that we are co‐producing theoretical knowledges of the lives of disabled children and young people with LL/LTIs and their families.…”

Storying disability’s potential

“…A current project that Dan is involved inthe Economic and Social Research Council funded Living life to the Fullestbrings together co-researchers of disabled young women with life-limiting and life-threatening impairments. This project has invited a number of opportunities to listen carefully to the relational encounters that disability brings to the world; not least the opportunity to consider the intertwined, knotted and entangled connections that make us human (see Liddiard et al 2018).…”