Resources

The Learning Disability Research Initiative was a three year project, funded by the Department of Health, to promote research within the field of learning disability. Thirteen research projects were carried out nationally between 2004 - 2007. An end of project reference was held in Sheffield In November 2007 to discuss the future of learning disability research. The conference was hosted by Professor Gordon Grant who, along with Dr Paul Ramcharan of RMIT, Melbourne, co-authored the final report.

The project was at all stages informed by contributions from service users and copies of the report, in Overview and Accessible Summary form, is freely available from Room 204 in the Centre for Health & Social Care Research. Professor Grant and Dr McClimens can be available by appointment to discuss learning disability user involved research with any interested individuals or agencies. Please contact Sheila Wallage, Senior Administrator on 0114 225 5680 or email: s.wallage@shu.ac.uk

The following book chapters and article describe a community publishing project with learning disability users using a participatory approach. People with learning disabilities were facilitated by a combination of workers and volunteers (many also with disabilities) from a co-operative adult and basic education college in setting up a writing and publishing group, and making decisions about the dissemination of their work. The second of these outputs reproduces in full three stories by service users and group poems in conjunction with a depiction of group activities and approaches.

Pollard N; Smart P; (2005). Voices Talk and Hands Write. In Kronenberg F; Simo Algado S and Pollard N (eds), Occupational Therapy without borders - learning from the spirit of survivors, Edinburgh, Elsevier Science, 287-301.

Pollard N, (2008) Voices Talk, Hands Write, in E Crepeau; Cohn E and B Boyt Schell, (eds) Willard and Spackman's Occupational Therapy 11th Edition, Philadelphia, Lipincott, Williams and Wilkins, 139-145.

Pollard N (2008) Vocies Talk, Hands Write; sustaining community publishing with people with learning difficulties, Groupwork 17 (2), 36-56.