As global, regional, and national stakeholders gather for the third Global Disability Summit to galvanise efforts on disability inclusion, our new report titled ‘Learning from the AHRC Disability-Inclusive Development Networks’ highlights recommendations for future research on disability.
Based on the findings of this report, we explore how researchers and funders can work with organisations of people with disabilities, understanding power dynamics, engage in policy influencing, ethics and feedback mechanisms.
Coming together to learn
With funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), ten networks have been working on various agendas relating to disability inclusive arts and humanities research. IDS holds a coordination role, with the aim of exploring opportunities for synergies and shared learning by connecting the networks together. As part of this initiative, we undertook a learning process involving 30 participants who were involved in the networks in various ways. We brought together the researchers, their partners, and people with disabilities who were part of the networks to explore the learnings from the networks to inform considerations for future research on disability.
Recommendations for researchers and universities
Working with organisations of people with disabilities
While there is a clear need for more arts and humanities research focused on disability, people with disabilities themselves must be involved in research processes. We cannot assume this will happen automatically, and action must be taken to deliver inclusion. Working with organisations of people with disabilities can help to ensure that engagement and participation is facilitated. For researchers looking to engage with organisations of people with disabilities, the International Disability Alliance is a good starting point, as they convene a network of over a thousand organisations working on disability.
Reflecting on power dynamics
All researchers are encouraged to reflect on power dynamics within projects and partnerships. There are many tools available to help researchers understand power. For example, the powercube can assist with analysing the levels, spaces and forms of power, and their interrelationship. Once power is considered, researchers must then consider if any individuals or groups are being marginalised or excluded.
Engaging policymakers
Another finding of the learning process related to the need for future networks to include a policy engagement and influencing plan. For people with disabilities to be empowered, networks must aim to work with relevant policymakers to make lasting change. In addition, for research to have an impact, disseminate strategies must be carefully developed to ensure that research findings are fed back to local communities and to people with disabilities.
Consideration to ethics
Ethics should be an important consideration for all research, but particularly so for research focused on disability. The participants of the networks urged researchers who may work on disability in future to take a proactive approach to ethics, moving it beyond a ‘tick-box exercise’. All research should ‘do no harm’ and care is needed to ensure that projects are undertaken with the best interests of the people with disabilities in mind.
Impact on climate
Finally, a topic that is gaining prominence that researchers must consider is the impact of their research and partnerships on the climate. It is clear that considerations of environmental impact are important, but researchers planning future work must also take care to ensure that environmental approaches do not inadvertently exclude people with disabilities from participating. Approaches designed to address climate issues that create new challenges for people with disabilities are sometimes referred to as eco-ableism.
Recommendations for funders of disability inclusive research
The need for more research and evidence related to disability is laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Our participants reaffirmed this demand but highlighted the need for funders to deliver both disability focused research calls, as well as ensuring that disability inclusion is mainstreamed into general calls that are focused on other themes.
Inclusion of people with disabilities
Funders have the power to ensure that researchers meaningfully include people with disabilities in their research plans. As with the recommendations for researchers detailed above, funders must take action to ensure that people with disabilities are at the centre of future research processes relating to disability inclusion. Funders must take responsibility for designing policies and funding calls to ensure that this happens.
Administrative flexibility
Funding bureaucracy was found to be viewed as a significant issue. While it could be argued that a level of administration is needed to reduce risk, improve efficiency, and ensure the viability of research projects, unnecessary bureaucracy can act as a barrier and stifle creativity. Through the learning process, the participants of the disability networks raised particular concerns with regards to payments to partners in low-income countries, unrealistic timeframes associated with research, and the need for flexible budgeting to allow for reasonable accommodation to be arranged where needed. Funders are urged to review their processes and streamline them where possible. While recognising that the AHRC – and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) more broadly – are very open about the disability and accessibility support they can offer applicants and grant holders, the participants urged funders in general to take particular care to ensure that routes to securing funding are fully accessible and don’t exclude people with disabilities.
Feedback mechanisms
The participants also highlighted feedback mechanisms as important so that funding recipients can give honest and open feedback to funders on their experiences, without fear of judgement or impact to current or future funding.
Improving future disability inclusive arts and humanities research
It is clear that arts and humanities research has so much potential to contribute to and improve the state of the evidence relating to disability inclusion. It is also clear that there are distinct lessons for both researchers and funders who are involving in research on this theme. The recommendations detailed in this new report present a good starting point for both, those developing research projects, and those who are responsible for commissioning it. The learnings from participants who have been involved in the AHRC Disability Inclusive Development Networks can help others to avoid common pitfalls and develop truly disability inclusive arts and humanities research in future.
