Based on the ICF-CY (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, Children & Youth Version) (WHO 2007) definition of participation as “involvement in a life situation” the research project CLASDISA investigates the participation of children with disabilities (CwD) in education in different societal and cultural backgrounds (Ethiopia, Thailand, Austria). Therefore, barriers and facilitators of participation of CwD in school life are identified and described from several perspectives (based on case studies with children with disabilities, their parents and teachers). However, the involvement of CwD in school is not the only area of interest. The involvement of CwD in research as interviewees poses another interesting topic of this study.

The importance of hearing the “child´s voice” is not just underlined through the Article 12 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child but also through the Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disability Act (2001), ensuring that the perspective of CWD has to be taken into account, including children who are hard to reach (e. g. children with communication problems). Listening to children´s voices seems to be one big goal in today´s educational research, leading to several reflections on participatory and emancipatory studies with children (e. g. Lundy, L. et al. 2011; Porter, J. 2009, Coppock, V. 2011).

In the CLASDISA project, gathering the children´s standpoint on their educational situation was one relevant aspect and thus different methods for gaining a better understanding of the children´s views were developed. The qualitative data offered us insight into environmental factors, which influence CwD´s participation in school life. On the other hand, lots of data was perceived as “useless” at first glance, because the content did not appear relevant for the analysis for various reasons (e. g. fantasy stories, not speaking about the research topic).Also, the Austrian data suggests that children were pressured to provide information. Although lots of CwD “officially” agreed to participate in the study, the data points into another direction and we can recognizedifferent ways how children express their wish for “non-participation” within the interviews. This already gives us important insights, e.g. into the societal conceptualization of childhood (Prout, A. 2005), the “culture of silence” of children with disabilities in the educational system (Friere, P. 1985 cit. in Gibson, S. 2006) as well as the pressure to reach research goals which are handed over to school institutions and to the children. The way of (non-) participation of CwD in research gives us relevant information about societal and cultural aspects of participation in certain settings. As Lewis (2010, p.17) states, “silence may be more informative than voice”. The question is how such data (including silence) can be analyzed and which conclusions can be reached based on that. This debate shall guide future research with children including demonstrating ways of handling participants´ choices of expressing “silence”.

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