A new partnership project Viper (Voice, Inclusion, Participation, Empowerment, Research) aims to identify the best ways for young disabled people to participate in decision making about their lives and the services they use.
Viper is a three-year research project funded by The Big Lottery Fund to explore the most effective ways of enabling young disabled people’s participation in development of services in England. The project is led by a consortium of the NCB Research Centre, The Council for Disabled Children, the Alliance for Inclusive Education, and the Children’s Society.
What VIPER does
- A survey was sent to people who work with young disabled people to find out how adults involve them in decisions about their lives.
- A literature review will be published giving an overview of what evidence is available of how young disabled people participate in decision-making.
- Interviews and focus groups will be carried out to find out what works for successfully involving young disabled people in decision making.
- A workshop has been held at the Social Research Association annual conference. One of the young researchers, Thomas Rowson, presented findings alongside two of the project researchers.
At the heart of the project is a group of 16 young disabled people, aged 12 to 22, from across England. They meet regularly to develop their research skills and to advise the project team. In addition to the research sessions, the Viper young researchers have also done work on identity and disability rights.
"I’ve really enjoyed taking part in different activities, getting to meet lots of new people, learning about rights as a disabled person and how people can facilitate participation," said Becky, a young Viper researcher.
The Young Researchers at Council for Disabled Children chose the name for the project as it reflected all that they hope the project is; and we are proud to unveil the project logo, designed by Lavinia Scott, a young disabled person in partnership with the young researchers.
Wed, 18/01/2012 - 17:17
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A new package to develop local staff to support and train young people to conduct objective assessments of local services and support recommendations for service improvements.
