Using inclusive research with participants with learning (intellectual) disability to better inform adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand
Western ideas about disability and literacy were developed in tandem during the Industrial Revolution and subsequently brought to Aotearoa New Zealand via colonisation. These ideas inform and reinforce educator attitudes, which are the leading factor impeding adults with learning [intellectual] disability from their educational pathways of choice. People without learning disability need to hear the voices of people with learning disability to counteract these attitudes and move towards transformational equality. There is a paucity of information about the access to and accessibility of adult literacy education for people with learning disability in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, anecdotal evidence reports their exclusion, even from foundational adult learning. There was a gap in knowledge where collaborative research that conveys the experiences of adults with learning disability was needed to gain greater insight to these issues in our bicultural context. My original contribution to knowledge is to present the voices of adults with learning disability as they discuss and demonstrate their literacy practices, and to use their perspectives to make recommendations for adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand. I undertook a thematic analysis of current adult literacy policies in Aotearoa New Zealand and found that they target “most” adult learners, while positioning disabled people as needing specialised, and by inference optional to provide, education and resources. These policies also prescribe a linear and progressive andragogy that may not meet the needs of all adults with learning disability, while measuring literacy skills in a way that does not foreground their strengths or value their purposes for engagement. Then, I conducted Inclusive Participatory Action Research with five adults with learning disability to gather information about their literacy practices and perspectives. Participants in this research decided to call themselves the Passioners. We met for 10 research meetings, preceded by at least two home visits, and interspersed by reflective meetings with individual participants. All research information was presented in easy read and key information was distributed audiovisually. The Passioners added value to this research by providing unique opportunities that are only available through doing inclusive research with them, prompting research improvements, innovation, and my efforts towards acculturation in their worlds. I evaluated my inclusive approach in this research to learn more about how people with learning disability do research as people with learning disability, and what dispositions, resources, and skills people without learning disability need to do research with them. Using reflexive thematic analysis, I constructed six themes from our research meetings data: learning disability cultural literacies, Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) cultural literacies, Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) cultural literacies, encoding, decoding, and social media, which extends the narrow definition of literacy in our adult literacy policies. These findings, and those from my policy analysis, were used to inform policy recommendations. Policy recommendations in this research may support implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly access to lifelong learning on an equal basis with others.
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