Appendix 1: Ethical and Philosophical Underpinnings of the Project
The New Zealand version of the DPRI project was the first to be funded by a Government and the first to be undertaken almost exclusively by disabled people. This is historically significant because non-disabled people have been the experts in the field of impairment and on disabled people. Differences in lived experience between disabled and non-disabled people meant that the knowledge produced by professionals in the field often failed to capture the lived reality of disabled peoples’ lives. Deliberately participative methods, fostering collaboration between disabled and non-disabled people, have been utilised in the process of moving from the era of the non-disabled expert to self determination. Participative strategies take a variety of forms and have been applied as a method of enquiry and political strategies in many different settings (see for example, Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997; Lunn, 2001; Noble & Robinson, 1999; Reason & Bradbury, 2001; Reinharz, 1992; Tierney, 2000).
By involving disabled people as much as possible the process of knowledge production, thus foregrounding the ‘nothing about us without us’ motto of disabled politics the DRPI framework utilises participative principles. Often the most challenging part of the process is to involve disabled people in the data analysis and reporting phase. In this project this challenge was met. Meetings of the Monitors toward the end of the interview process (see appendix 6 for a summary of the brain storming process) and then again to give feedback on the draft report meant that the entire project team participated in interim and final analysis of findings. DPOs involved in the project also gave feedback that was used in the construction of the recommendations section.
Allowing us to question the strategies by which knowledge is legitimated and how we come to know participative projects are part of a process toward more informed ways of knowing the world (see for example, du Bois, 1983; Lather, 1991; Lykes, 1989; Smith, 1987; Vaughter, 1976; Wallston, 1981). Operationalising an attitude of critical reflection, this project critically analyses the process of disablement in New Zealand providing valuable information that can be used to develop methodologies that capture the New Zealand experience of disablement more accurately.