Ms Janet MARY Wickenden
Nationality: United Kingdom
Year: 2006
Subject Area: Social Sciences
The Wingate scholarship has helped me with the research expenses of my Phd project, of which I am now in the second year. I am researching the lives of a group of 10 teenagers who have severe disabilities. They have cerebral palsy which affects their muscle control and means that they have no speech and therefore communicate with high tech electronic aids. I am using anthropological methods to find out about their lives. This means that I spend extended periods of time with them in school and also at home and at any clubs or activities that they are involved with. This gives me opportunities to find out about their real everyday experiences and to talk to them about what is important to them. Because of their communication difficulties this can be a slow process, and so often this group of children is excluded from research and they are not asked for their opinions or perspectives. It is quite new for children to be asked about their views directly and it is unique for a project to focus completely on this very disabled group themselves, rather than asking their parents or teachers about them.
I am just approaching the end of the practical year of work with the young people. It has been very enjoyable as well as hugely challenging so far. Next year I will start the daunting job of analysing the data and coming up with conclusions about how disabled children experience the world today. I hope that this will be useful for policy makers and practitioners involved in work with disabled youngsters.
I already teach students about disability and development, and about cultural aspects of health and wellbeing. I expect to continue this after my Phd, but also hope to do further research and advocacy work with and for disabled children, particularly those with very little speech.