The role of the non-disabled researcher in researching disability

Abstract

What follows is an account of how I, a part-time doctoral student researching in the field of learning disability, am attempting to position myself and my work within a particular discourse, and how this problematises my role as researcher.First I will outline my understanding of how different paradigms have particular models of disability and how they highlight different issues as to the role of the researcher in disability research. The debatably particular position of intellectual impairment within disability will be considered. I will scrutinise my own intended research and my role as a non-disabled researcher into disability. I will then examine the work of Hausstratter (2004) as a possible solution to the paradigmatic dilemma. Finally I will look at some studies where a combination of paradigms and methods have been adopted.