Institute for Social Justice
Neurodiversity and learning disabilities
Working with people with lived experience of neurodiversity and learning disabilities.
Research in the context of neurodiversity and learning disabilities takes place across the University, including the arts, education and psychology.
Activity in this area often follows an ethos of co-production, engaging people with lived experience as participants and co-researchers.
Our research seeks to impact on policy and practice, working in partnership with schools, the charity and arts sectors and local authorities. Together we aim to develop innovative practice that increased inclusion and opportunities while addressing marginalisation and stigma.
Our current projects are:
Creative Doodle Book: Inclusive Community Arts during Physical Distancing
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The disruption caused by COVID-19 has forced many community groups to drastically adapt or even suspend their activities. This has been particularly impactful on organisations working with people with learning disabilities.
The Creative Doodle Book is a hands-on resource developed by Professor Matthew Reason in collaboration with Mind the Gap Theatre Company to support inclusive socially distanced community arts practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020 and 2021 over 3,500 Creative Doodle Books were distributed to arts organisations, schools and other community groups. We also ran over 115 online workshops, including with over 20 learning disability organisations across the UK. You can read more in our project report or watch a short film about the Creative Doodle Book.
The project received UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council funding under their COVID-19 urgent calls programme.
Schools and SENs
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We have 2 research projects related to the participation of young people with special educational needs in mainstream schooling in York.
They are both collaborative projects with young people and community partners, seeking to raise awareness of some of the challenges that young people with SEN experience in school, and aiming to bring about positive changes to school experiences:
- AIMSS: Autism Inclusive Mainstream Secondary Schooling
- STEPS: School Transition Experiences for Pupils with SENs
To find out more about these projects, visit Schools and Young People with SENs.
I'm Me: Inclusive and Creative Research with Learning Disabled and Autistic Artists
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I'm Me is a creative research project that works with learning disabled and autistic artists to explore questions of identity, representation and voice.
Learning disabled and autistic people lack power in our society. They are often seen as vulnerable and needing protection or care. At the same time they are rarely given a voice, even on issues that directly relate to disability. I'm Me works with learning disabled and autistic artists' lived experiences, placing them at the centre of the research process.
Lead by Professor Matthew Reason, I'm Me works with Mind the Gap and in partnership with a network of 6 disability arts companies: About Face, Confidance, Hijinx, Lung Ha, Open Theatre, and Under the Stars. It funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and runs from May 2023 to June 2025.
To learn more, visit the I'm Me project pages.
Participatory Sandbox
The Participatory Sandbox is a collaborative project between York St John and the Matthew’s Hub autism charity.
It seeks to co-develop a new model for participatory research that targets key challenges around power, identity and communication.
The project is lead by Dr Brett Heasman.
York Autism Community of Practice
York Autism Community of Practice was established in 2013, in collaboration with NHS York Hospitals Trust.
They meet quarterly to provide research-informed professional development and networking opportunities for regional practitioners and community partners with an interest in autism. The Community of Practice's members include health professionals, adult social care practitioners, university researchers, local authority managers, and autistic adults and carers.
We pride ourselves on being a respectful, collaborative, and proactive group with a desire to see positive change for autistic young people and adults in the York area and beyond.
To find out more, visit the York Autism Community of Practice website.
Research in Neurodiversity, Environment and Wellbeing (ReNEW)
Research in Neurodiversity, Environment and Wellbeing (ReNEW) combines expertise in knowledge, research and practice related to building more enabling psychological environments in a number of contexts.
To find out more, visit Research in Neurodiversity, Environment and Wellbeing.
The meaning of emotional wellbeing
The Meaning of Emotional Wellbeing is a collection of works where clinicians and researchers pool their skills to improve understanding of what being neurodivergent means. The work is underpinned by an ethos of neurodiversity affirming practice (differences associated with being autistic, having ADHD, or other neurodevelopmental conditions are welcomed by everybody in society), and compassion (we act to reduce negative treatment and suffering).
We choose language, imagery, questions, spaces, and research methods together with the people who the research represents. The work seeks to increase inclusion and belonging for people who experience the world differently from the majority.
To access a series of free emotion wellbeing resources and find out more, visit Emotion Resources.
The work is lead by Dr Stephanie Petty.