Improving understanding of service user involvement and identity: Disabled people bringing ourselves out of the half-shadows

Authors

  • Colin Cameron Northumbria University
  • Michele Moore Patient Safety Academy / QRSTU, Nuffield Department of Surgical Services, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford
  • Ann Nutt The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, Harlow, UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v21i1.1364

Abstract

Abstract: We are a group of disabled service users ‘whose experiences are semi-visible or semi-acknowledged within normative discourses’. We have conducted research with other disabled service users to circumvent challenges of research co-production and facilitate inclusion in research of ourselves and our disabled peers who are frequently described as ‘hard to reach’. We carried out this research in order to enhance our own visibility as researchers and bring our experience as disabled service-user representatives out of the ‘half shadows’. In doing this we hoped to expand awareness of the dynamics at play in service user-representation. This research arose directly out of the concerns of the late Patricia Chambers, a disabled woman who expressed deep concern about how her experience as a service user –representative was routinely rendered semi-visible or semi-acknowledged within normative discourses. It begins to explore the extent of our rendition to the half-shadows and to work out strategies for bringing our experience in to the light.

Keywords: research access; visibility; service users; user-led research; experience

Author Biographies

Colin Cameron, Northumbria University

Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Work, Education and Community Well Being, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Michele Moore, Patient Safety Academy / QRSTU, Nuffield Department of Surgical Services, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford

Professor

Ann Nutt, The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, Harlow, UK

Chair, Patient Panel

References

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Published

2020-03-21

How to Cite

Cameron, C., Moore, M., & Nutt, A. (2020). Improving understanding of service user involvement and identity: Disabled people bringing ourselves out of the half-shadows. Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 21(1), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr.v21i1.1364

Issue

Section

Articles
Received 2020-03-21
Accepted 2020-03-21
Published 2020-03-21