Experiences of Inclusive Action and Social Design Research with Social Workers and People with Intellectual Disabilities

Jeroen Knevel,Alice Schippers,Jean Pierre Wilken

doi:10.3390/socsci11030121

Jeroen Knevel, Alice Schippers + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11030121

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Abstract

In this study, we report on a two-year experience of inclusive participative action and social design research consisting of intensive collaboration between social workers, people with intellectual disabilities and researchers. Action research and design research are attunable and lend themselves to an inclusive approach aimed at knowledge development and change in practice. Social workers and people with intellectual disabilities were involved in a community of development. They became owners of the subject matter and the answers and solutions they designed. We conclude that an inclusive approach lends itself well to combining or even merging action research and social design research. Inclusive participative action and social design research cannot be standardized since it contains a particularly emergent process. Hence, it requires flexibility and creativity in finding ways to create an inclusive process of co-creation.

Highlights

We report on a two-year experience of inclusive action and social design research consisting of intensive collaboration between social workers, people with intellectual disabilities and researchers
To communicate what the study entails, questions needed to be answered such as: what is the study about and what does a community of development entail, what activities take place in these Community of Development (CoD) meetings, where and how often do we meet, who are the other participants, what is my role, what influence do I have, what is expected of me during and in between the CoD meetings and what is in it for me? To answer these questions, we offered a flyer in accessible languages, organized physical meetings—one to one or in small groups—and with the help of the feedback from social workers and people with intellectual disabilities we created a visual representation of the information for people with intellectual disabilities
In the CoD Amsterdam, this led to questions that were predominantly focused on record keeping and transferring information about the service user: Why is the record keeping and transfer we are carrying out good? What am I reporting and why? Since we are thinking about the form of record keeping and the transfer, how can it be improved? How can we enhance the service users’ control over their records? Some life experts with intellectual disability nuanced this concern, saying: “Sometimes a service user does not want to think about his records and transfer

Summary

Introduction

We report on a two-year experience of inclusive action and social design research consisting of intensive collaboration between social workers, people with intellectual disabilities and researchers. The goal of this project was to deepen and nuance the knowledge on how social workers working with individuals with intellectual disability can promote social inclusion. We present this project as a case study to report on the experiences we gained applying an integration of inclusive research, action research and social design research. We describe the research design and the methods we employed to give shape to inclusivity and the road towards desired outcomes.

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