The Questions, Challenges, and Possibilities When Joining Critical Disabilities Studies and Healthcare Research

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Interdisciplinary research teams that include critical disability studies (CDS) scholars and Healthcare and Medical Researchers have the potential to investigate complex lived experiences and explore new opportunities to best serve disabled communities. However, individuals in these fields typically approach disability research in different ways. Throughout this manuscript, we refer to a hypothetical interdisciplinary research team as an example of how to integrate the questions, challenges, and possibilities into practice when joining CDS and Healthcare and Medical Research.

Discussion: First, we raise three large and complex questions that researchers must address (and discuss) when conducting disability research: (a) what is (a) disability, (b) what does it mean to live with a disability, and (c) who is included in research samples/as research participants for disability research? Then, we discuss the colliding and harmful relationship history between CDS and Healthcare and Medical Research fields, and the continued oppositional training of professionals in both fields. Finally, we offer insights into how collaborative efforts and methods of interdisciplinary research teams can optimize success when tackling complex research questions to serve disabled communities.

Conclusions: We suggest approaches for projects at the intersection of CDS and Healthcare and Medical Research: holistic, person-centered research, treating individuals in the disability community as experts, and collaborating with the community while conducting research. This manuscript serves as a starting point for researcher teams looking to conduct ethical, rigorous, and trustworthy research at the intersection of health, medicine, and disability.