In Europe, in the absence of other opportunities for adult learning for people with learning difficulties, self-advocacy has an important role as a site for learning (Fernandez et al. 2002). In the Uk increasingly self-advocates are learning not just skills in speaking up, active citizenship and self-determination (as promoted in the government white paper Valuing People, DH 2001). Many of those in organized self-advocacy groups are also learning research skills through their involvement with research – not as participants, but as co-researchers, researchers in their own right, authors, reviewers and commissioners of research. This phenomenon is evident in Australia and parts of Europe also where debates and action are growing. The adoption of these roles by ‘people who may otherwise be seen as subjects for the research’ is characteristic of inclusive research (Walmsley and Johnson 2003), inclusive research being an umbrella term encompassing what is also known as participatory, emancipatory, community-based, participatory action, partnership and user-led (Nind 2014). Such research is increasingly valued by funders for its power to ask the right questions and have impact (Involve 2004; Nind & Vinha 2012). It is valued by self-advocates for its potential bringing funds to organisations and for making a difference to people’s lives, for building networks, gaining employment, and learning new skills (Nind & Vinha 2013). This conference paper provides an exploration of this last element and the educational lifelong learning resource that inclusive research is and can be.

Lifelong learning for people with (profound) learning disabilities ideally needs to be ‘“owned” by the individual’, ‘meaningful to them’, enhancing ‘their feeling of self-worth and personal power’; it needs to be ‘active and interactive’ and ‘set within the context of warm and nurturing relationships and rich communications’ (Nind 2007: 111). This is in stark contrast to what Wright (2006) argues is the limited and limiting provision in further education colleges. But is it a good description of the learning that takes place in the context of inclusive research?

People with learning disabilities have certainly made strong arguments about the importance of their involvement in research if it is to be meaningful and useful for them (e.g. Townson 2004; The Learning Disability Research Team 2006). Much has been written about their gains in confidence and self-esteem (e.g. Chapman & McNulty 2004). Huge skills and role advances have been made – echoing Mittler’s (2000) observation of the unpredictability of the pace and extent of change – recent generations would not have anticipated that people with learning disabilities could learn to analyse research data. Yet inclusive research contexts are also known to be troubled sites. Walmsley and Johnson (2003) have drawn our attention to the reluctance to honestly address the difficulties involved in doing inclusive research and McClimens (2007:273)has shared the challenges of writing up research collaboratively with self-advocates when language and writing is ‘the site of a struggle for control, for knowledge and for truth’. This paper uses the dataset from the author’s recent study (on inclusive research involving people with learning disabilities) to interrogate what it can tell us about inclusive research as a site for lifelong learning.

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