Building relationships in inclusive research in diverse contexts

Abstract

This article explores relationships between academics and people with intellectual disabilities collaborating in inclusive research. The authors present and reflect upon narrative accounts from Norway and England from both sides of the relationship. Each relationship is examined, including how it was initiated, established, developed and sustained, what worked well, what the obstacles were and how any conflicts were approached. The concept of being an ‘alongsider’, working alongside each other (and alongside participants with intellectual disabilities) is used. The paper shows variety in how alongsider relationships are initiated and fostered over time. Mostly, partnerships were initiated informally, based on pre-existing relationships as friends or through support worker-client relationship or earlier research cooperation, although one was initiated through a formal selection process. The paper concludes that when building relationships over time, the personal dimension is important, including sharing an interest, mutual respect and liking each other, while funding and tight timelines can interfere. Accessible Summary • Academics and researchers with intellectual disabilities from England and Norway wrote this article together. • Academics thought up the idea and wrote the background and discussion; people with intellectual disabilities wrote about their experiences. • The paper tells how we got to know each other and how we kept in touch over time. • We wanted to do this because academic researchers in Norway want to do more research with people with intellectual disabilities, and need to know how to get started and keep it going. • We learnt that it takes time spent alongside each other to build good research relationships, and it depends on having fun together as well as working. • We learnt that the academic researcher needs to provide some support, even when there is someone else with that job. • We learnt that sometimes funding and deadlines can get in the way of building strong research relationships.

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