Non-disabled space invaders! a study critically exploring the scholarly reporting of research attributes for persons with and without disability

Abstract

Social justice requires that the "nothing about us without us" disability inclusion mantra not be rejected or watered down in knowledge production activities. Appreciating the need for a greater representation of disability in these activities, this investigative study aims to (a) determine if there is a statistically significant difference in the median research attribute reporting scores between articles whose content refers to the term "researchers with lived experience" and articles whose content refers to "non-disabled researchers, " and (b) to critically discuss how the scholarly literature reports on the attributes of researchers with and without disability. Enabling this exploration, this study has applied the Mann-Whitney U test and thematic analysis to a purposive sample of 20 articles that were retrieved from a Scopus database search. Findings reveal that the median score of reported research attributes was statistically significantly higher in the group of articles whose content referred to the term researchers with lived experience than in the articles that referred to non-disabled researchers. Results also highlight attributes of empathy, ability, rigor and activism that are reportedly shared across the two groups of articles. Crucially, attention is given to a theme reported as unique to the researchers with disability group. This is the attribute of having firsthand knowledge of disability (i.e., lived experience). The study concludes by recognising that lived experience, when incorporated throughout the research process, can help to redress deficiencies that might otherwise be present.