Getting things changed: disabled people’s organisations and co-production

‘Getting Things Changed’ was a large multi-centre programme of UK based research in Disability Studies, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council between 2015-2018. It was led by a team at the University of Bristol, with Disability Rights UK, the National Development Team for Inclusion and partners in three other universities.

The report highlights the successes and challenges of a co-productive approach – refer particularly to the executive summary and introduction, and to the detail of chapter 9 (page 40) on User-driven commissioning: disabled people’s organisations and co-production.

Some extracts:

“The research was co-produced with disabled people and their organisations, especially with Disability Rights UK. Their viewpoints and input were central both to the research design and to our findings. Half of the core project team identified as disabled people, and drew on their lived experience in the research. Additionally, 18 disabled people took part in three coresearch groups across the project, and others were
involved in advisory groups or direct action within the work led by Disability Rights UK.”

“This study found that ‘co-production’ could become meaningless rhetoric, a box-ticking exercise in local authorities or hospital care. Co-production worked best where there were genuine shared projects and goals, and where those in authority could learn from disabled people’s organisations on their own territory. Disabled people, including those with dementia, also needed to build their confidence and awareness of their rights.”