Commentary on “Threats to valuing diverse voices in public debates about disability. A case study from social media” (Anderson, 2022)

摘要

In Threats to valuing diverse voices in public debates about disability. A case study from social media, Anderson (Citation2022) reported on the findings of a small-scale research project exploring the social media activity of disabled activists in relation to evidence presented to the Australian Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. The Commission has been hearing evidence in different formats since 2019 and will report its findings to the Australian Government in 2023. The case study focused on Twitter activity during Public Hearing 3, where evidence was heard about living in group homes. One of three themes identified, challenging the legitimacy of the researcher, is the focus of the article, which raises critical issues and considerations around how self-advocates and researchers work together on and offline. Anderson (Citation2022) located her analysis within the context of the centrality of inclusive research with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She drew on a large literature that underlines the importance of self-advocates and researchers working together to generate research findings, “which can make a significant contribution to knowledge and improve quality of life” (p. 2). She further reflected on the challenges this approach brings, particularly around the imbalance of power and the representativeness of the self-advocates involved. These challenges can lead to “tick box” involvement rather than genuine participation, and Anderson underlined the importance of recognising that self-advocates involved in research are often those with the skills to speak out.