An autoethnography of a hearing impaired researcher in a participatory research study on disability and museum access

Abstract

This is a case study of a hearing-impaired researcher who was co-participant in a study of learners with sensory and intellectual impairments in six European museums. The fieldwork for this project was based in London, Madrid, Oviedo (northern Spain) and Vienna, with partners and technological and university partners in Spain, Serbia, Austria and the UK. The output from the project was improved methods of teaching and learning, the identification and elimination of barriers to inclusion and a suite of co-designed technologies in the museums involved in the research. The methodology used for the study was an emancipatory form of participatory research, and data collection methods included participatory feedback from monthly and bi-monthly meetings, interviews with participants, recordings of participant groups, photographs of practice by the participants and of participants’ practice, art making activities and participant diaries. The case study aims to discuss the following questions in relation to the researcher’s experience of fieldwork in Madrid and London: 1) What challenges do researchers face as a researcher and co-participant in in the course of this fieldwork? 2) How can institutions engage researchers who are members of a broad range of communities in participatory studies and practices?