Researching Disabled People

All you wanted to know but were too afraid to ask

Background
The UK population is changing in many ways. The number of disabled people is increasing and will continue to do so. This is due to our aging population and a widening of our political and cultural understanding of the concept of disability.
Our traditional understanding of disability focuses on those with visible impairments, such as people who are wheel chair users or people with visual impairments. However, there are actually 6 main impairment groups and many disabled people do not have visible impairments. Consider, for example, people with long term health conditions and people with learning difficulties. Disabled people from all these groups experience barriers in accessing their rights and entitlements.
Do you have the necessary knowledge and skills to carry out your responsibilities to accommodate the needs of these communities? Would you like to know more about how you can do this effectively? Would you like to ensure your policies, procedures and practices are within the bounds of the law?

Objective
This course enables you to:

• Identify and understand the nature of disabled communities in the UK
• Provide guidance on how to research them

Learning outcomes
After completing the course, you will have an understanding of:

• The critical contextual issues
  • The historical background to disability issues in the UK
  • Key definitions and appropriate terminology to use
  • The legislative requirements both past and present
  • The demographic data needed to identify the different disabled communities
• The most relevant research considerations from an agency and client perspective:
  • Key polices and practices needed to research these communities effectively
    • Defining how to choose the sample
    • Deciding on the most suitable methodology
    • Devising the most relevant questionnaire and discussion guide
    • Finding the most appropriate moderator
  • The potential barriers to researching them and how to overcome these

Who will benefit?
The course will benefit agency and client-side researchers from both the commercial and social sectors who wish to broaden their understanding of this important area of society and research. It will be particularly relevant to those who have statutory responsibilities to accommodate the needs of disabled people.