Working with the organisations was a great opportunity to learn about disability hate crime within a safe and supportive environment. Before starting the research, I met with all of the participants by joining one of their regular meeting groups. We chatted about their organisation, the work that they are involved in and got to know each other. I was able to explain the purpose of the research and have a discussion around this.
It was important to meet with the groups prior to the research so that participants could ask questions and make suggestions. It was also great to learn more about the amazing work that organisations are already doing in the community.
Throughout the research, I did 3 workshops with each organisation and interviewed a couple of members from each one. By keeping in contact with participants throughout the research, I was able to make sure they were still happy to be involved and that the research was reflecting their own experiences.
Our first workshop used arts-based methods to create the workshops, and the second workshop was an opportunity for participants to reflect on these and share their with other members. For our final workshop, we worked together to reflect upon the research findings and highlight the most important themes. We thought about ways to work together in the future and help to challenge disability hate crime.
Although I worked with all participants closely, it is important to recognise that as the primary researcher, I have been in control of many important research decisions. For example, I designed the research questions, methods and have written up the final research report, including this toolkit.
Experiences of Everyday Hate: A PhD Project 