Wickenden Mary
Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Afr J Disabil. 2024 Oct 18;13:1486. doi: 10.4102/ajod.v13i0.1486. eCollection 2024.
This paper presents researchers' experiences using participatory, inclusive research methodologies to explore aspects of inclusive education, with children with disabilities, parents, and teachers in Nigeria and Kenya.
The objective is to describe working with children and adults with disabilities, as research collaborators, alongside local INGO staff and OPD partners.
In Kenya we worked with 9 peer researchers with disabilities to run focus groups and interviews with children with disabilities, parents and teachers about inclusive pre-school education. In Nigeria we ran participatory workshops with children with disabilities, and their parents discussing what makes school and community settings inclusive, to inform the design of a Wellbeing and Inclusion checklist. The studies were based in pilot primary schools and Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE or pre-school) classes in Nigeria and Kenya respectively. The data produced were recordings and notes from focus group discussions, interviews and activities and reflections from the peer researchers. Data analysis was an inclusive participatory process of thematic analysis carried out in person and online.
These innovative approaches demonstrate that with careful planning and support, both adults and children with disabilities can be involved very directly in research processes not just as participants but as researchers.
We argue that using participatory, disability-inclusive approaches helps to make the findings more nuanced and genuine and the data and outputs generated uniquely grounded in people's realities and perspectives.
These methods can potentially inform the mainstreaming of a disability inclusion approach into international development debates and activities.
本文介绍了研究人员运用参与性、包容性研究方法，与尼日利亚和肯尼亚的残疾儿童、家长及教师共同探讨全纳教育相关方面的经历。
目的是描述与残疾儿童和成人作为研究合作者，以及当地国际非政府组织工作人员和门诊合作伙伴开展合作的情况。
在肯尼亚，我们与9名残疾同伴研究人员合作，针对全纳学前教育，对残疾儿童、家长和教师进行焦点小组访谈。在尼日利亚，我们与残疾儿童及其家长举办了参与性工作坊，讨论使学校和社区环境具有包容性的因素，以完善一份幸福与包容清单的设计。这些研究分别以尼日利亚和肯尼亚的试点小学以及幼儿发展与教育（ECDE，即学前教育）班级为基础。产生的数据包括焦点小组讨论、访谈和活动的录音及笔记，以及同伴研究人员的反思。数据分析是一个在现场和线上进行的包容性参与式主题分析过程。
这些创新方法表明，经过精心规划和支持，残疾儿童和成人不仅可以作为参与者，还能作为研究人员非常直接地参与到研究过程中。
我们认为，采用参与性、残疾包容性方法有助于使研究结果更细致入微、真实可靠，所生成的数据和产出能独特地基于人们的现实情况和观点。
这些方法可能为将残疾包容方法纳入国际发展辩论和活动的主流提供参考。
