Project updates

October 2024 - six month update

WAARC Priority Area 1: Environments

Over the last 6 months, we have:

• Worked on producing two ethics packs for the Priority Area 1.1 – Recruitment and Priority Area 1.2 - Employment. We have included documents such as Participant Information Sheet, Participant Consent Form, Confidentiality Agreement (for Transcribers and Support Workers), Distress Protocol and Risk Assessment in the ethics packs. We collaborated with the WAARC team in the production of these documents and took everyone's feedback on-board. We submitted the ethics packs and have so far received positive and constructive feedback on Priority Area 1.1 with minor revisions. We intend to amend the documents and resubmit the pack next week. 
• Worked collaboratively with another RA on responses to accessible events and accessible recruitment practices, producing a document for the former and a recording and the accompanying transcript for the latter. 
• Written a piece on ‘What is the Ableist University?’ 
• Conducted a literature review based on Access to Work policy evaluation reports and thematically organised the first draft of the document. 
• Contributed a summary of our Priority Area to be included in the presentation for Leeds Disability Studies conference in September 2024.
• We will be meeting with our partner organisation, Pathfinders tomorrow to start our partnership work. 

These activities have been taking place in the context of the RA not having appropriate support in place and having to apply to Access to Work. The process has included the following:

• Completing the Access to Work application form, 
• Being assessed for access needs, 
• Recruiting a Support Worker on a casual basis (writing a JD, advertising the role, short-listing the candidates and interviews) and induction and training. 

To recruit a Support Worker  on a long-term basis, the RA has been introduced to a specialist agency to go through the recruitment process again. The RA has written a reflective piece about her experiences of AtW, listing a number of recommendations. This article and the recommendations were discussed in a meeting with a member of the senior research management team. In addition, the RA experienced many access issues when working on the ethics packs ranging from the inaccessibility of google docs to the inaccessibility of the ethics system.

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WAARC Priority Area 2: Developments

Over the last 6 months, we have been very busy as a Priority Area. We have developed 2 detailed ethics applications surrounding inclusive research methods and accessible events, which are currently under review. This was done in direct conversation with key stakeholders at the University of Sheffield such as the Head of Public Engagement and the Directors of Knowledge Exchange, and in collaboration with disabled partner organisation Speakup Self Advocacy. As a part of work surrounding accessible academic events, have set up a successful international-scaled Ableism & Academia Reading Group, with 100+ people on the mailing list, with average attendance of 22 since its inception in September 2024. Similarly, we have set up an open access WAARC reading list in collaboration with The University Library that is open to collaboration and participation as part of our commitment to open research and inclusive ways of doing research, teaching and scholarship. We have also led on the ongoing creation of an ‘Anti-Ableist University’ zine by critical disability studies colleagues both within WAARC and more broadly within the department, and have subsequently been invited to host a university wide postgraduate researcher wellbeing zine-making session for disabled PGRs. We have collaborated with the WAARC team beyond the priority area also, such as through publishing collaborative response letters to Levinovitz’s article on Higher Education accessibility accommodations (Jones & Gauthier-Mamaril, 2024), and planning a Spoon Theory and Alt Text workshop that we hope to bring to PGRs and employed researchers around the region, particularly within the White Rose Consortium group. We continue to establish our partnership with Speakup Self Advocacy, and to network across the institution whilst seeking to further criticise the ableist university.  

Network for Researchers with Speech Impairments or Differences  

Dr Armineh Soorenian, one of the Research Associates on the Wellcome Anti-Ableist Research Cultures in iHuman is setting up a network for researchers with speech impairments or differences to address the exclusion of researchers with communication difficulties from disability research and academia in general. So far ten researchers with a range of international backgrounds have expressed interest in the network. Together, we are discussing the scope of the network and sharing our aspirations for the group. Interesting ideas are developing both in terms of peer support and discussion topics. Encouragingly, our vision for the network appears to be very similar and aligns with anti-ableist values. The next steps would be to introduce the network members to each other and arrange a meeting that is accessible for everyone.

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WAARC Priority Area 3: Collaborations

Over the last six months, in collaboration with our partners, Sheffield Voices and the Participatory Research Network at the University of Sheffield, we have developed and launched a funded research call, inviting postgraduate researchers and staff at the university to apply for up to £5000 to conduct a small-scale research or innovation project. Each project needs to be formulated and carried out in partnership with a disabled people’s organisation. We have constructed the research call to enable both people at the university with and without established partnerships to apply. In addition, disabled people’s organisations who want to be matched with a postgraduate researcher or university staff are also welcomed. This call was launched at an event led by the Participatory Research Network and then circulated widely.  

We have collaborated both with the WAARC team beyond the priority area and with the wider university community, for example through being part of the organising team of an internal conference for disabled postgraduate researchers and staff who work with them. 

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WAARC Cross-cutting Themes

Over the past six months, we have focused on developing Cross-cutting Theme 1: Institutional engagement. This has taken the form of liaising with existing EDI networks and stakeholders in the University of Sheffield, including the Disabled Staff Network, the Emotionally Demanding Research Network, and the LGBTQ+ Staff Network, to promote the WAARC project. We also continue to develop our relationship with the National Association of Disabled Staff Networks (NADSN), our stream collaborator. We are gearing up for three launch events for the University of Sheffield community and our partnered disabled people's organisations in November and December 2024. To this end, we have received Access First Work training from Quiplash, a local disability access consultancy firm.The first is an art exhibit of arts and crafts by current disabled staff members to be displayed both in a high-traffic university building and on the WAARC website. The aim of this exhibit is to showcase existing disability culture within the university and to present disability through a creative lens to staff and students. The second event will be held in person on the 3rd of December. In collaboration with Quiplash we have developed a programme that includes invited disabled drag artists, a community discussion around the aims of WAARC, and a panel on disability, culture, and access. This event will be followed by a virtual twin where audio-described drag will meet online discussions.

In addition to organising these institution-focused events, we have also collaborated with the wider WAARC team to address timely sector-wide debates around disability accommodations in higher education by authoring an open-access response to Alan Levinovitz’s essay in the Higher Education Chronicle (Jones and Gauthier-Mamaril 2024). Planning is underway for a spoon theory and alt text workshop that aims to engage university staff to practise concrete access by using a theoretical framework that comes from disability culture as well as for a WAARC podcast.