Lessons Learnt from Researching Together: Implications for Addressing Health Inequalities Ruth Northway Professor of Learning Disability Nursing June 2014 © University of South Wales

Research Generally: Pressure to work together Specifically: More people with learning disabilities involved as researchers © University of South Wales

My Starting Points I thought I knew about research I had not thought about the role that people with learning disabilities play in research I had not questioned what I had been taught © University of South Wales

Looking into Abuse Team © University of South Wales

Lesson 1 There is a difference between someone not being ‘able’ to do something and not having the chance and the support to do something © University of South Wales

Lesson 2 How we do research can be as important as what we research © University of South Wales

Lesson 3 It is important to work as a team We all bring different things to a team Building a team can take time © University of South Wales

Lesson 4 Different people will have different ideas of what is important They will also have different ways of doing things © University of South Wales

They may think it doesn’t fit in with the ‘rules’ Lesson 6 Sometimes other people don’t understand why it is important to do research differently They may think it doesn’t fit in with the ‘rules’ © University of South Wales

It is important to be flexible It is important to be creative Lesson 7 It is important to be flexible It is important to be creative © University of South Wales

Lesson 8 There is a lot for all of us to learn We must not stop learning We can never know it all © University of South Wales

But things have changed…… Healthcare Traditional Research Professionals ‘know best’ Services do not make reasonable adjustments to include people with learning disabilities People with learning disabilities excluded Researcher as expert People with learning disabilities seen as ‘unable’ to do research People with learning disabilities excluded But things have changed…… © University of South Wales

Health Inequalities? Who decides what is important? Who decides what we do about them? Are there things we don’t know? © University of South Wales

Health Inequalities? If we do research together we bring together different skills and knowledge What we find out is more likely to be useful We can use this information to work together to change things © University of South Wales

Contact: Ruth Northway ruth.northway@southwales.ac.uk © University of South Wales