Researching with people with learning difficulties

Abstract

The paper shows the origins of what Walmsley (2008) calls «inclusive research». To understand what is meant by inclusive research, we have to go back to the epistemological debate about quantitative and qualitative methodologies that took place in the 90s, around the journal Disability & Society. From a synthesis of these discussions, centered on the field of «intellectual and developmental disabilities», the paper presents two strategies for working with this population: a) an ethnographic approach (working group), and b) a biographical approach (of individual work). Then a possible fieldwork design is suggested trying to overcome the «classical» qualitative paradigm, with the aim of including people with disabilities beyond the role of «research subjects».The paper ends by presenting the debate on the accessibility of research results to participants in this type of research, as well as on the necessary innovation in the way this feedbak is provided, when it is to include people who have limitations for understanding abstract language, in oral and/or written form.