Reflections on Working Together in an Inclusive Research Team

The funding of a research project working with local governments and people with intellectual disabilities led to the establishment of an inclusive research team within a university faculty. The core team consisted of four people, including a design researcher, an architect, a disability advocate and a community researcher/self-advocate. Though there are ample attention and resources devoted to the front-facing parts of a university being visibly inclusive-mostly from a physical access perspective or focussed on the student experience-less attention has been directed to what it means to develop and support inclusive research and aligned work opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities within a university campus. For this reason, the paper explores what it was like for our team that included non-traditional academics and people with intellectual disabilities to work at a university in a design school (not a disability-related research centre). We employ a process of collaborative autoethnography to reflect on how different team members took the lead across different parts of the study. We conclude with a set of tips for the development of more inclusive research teams within university settings.