Tools
ToolsReason, Matthew, Acton, Kelsie and Foulds, Daniel (2025) Cognitive Accessibility, Ethics, and Rights in Research. Performance Matters, 11 (1-2). pp. 153-175. ISSN 2369-2537
Abstract
This paper is about doing research with artists with learning disabilities and autism. Artists with learning disabilities or autism need to say yes to doing research. Researchers need to explain what will happen in the research. Often, researchers think that people with learning disabilities and autism can’t say yes to being part of research. This means researchers don’t study things that are important to people with learning disabilities and autism. So, people with learning disabilities and autism don’t get a voice. All the people who wrote this work on I’m Me. I’m Me was a research project that works with seven learning disability arts companies in the United Kingdom. We used drama, dance, music and art to understand identity, representation, and voice. This paper explores our approach to ethics on the project. We wanted to avoid what we describe as a “deficit model” of ethics. Instead we worked with learning disabled artists and researchers to develop a set of rights in research. How these rights were communicated was very important in order to ensure access and understanding. I’m Me used a range of methods, including illustrations, workshops, videos, and movement. As a result of this approach, we found artists started independently talking about their rights in research.
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