We Are the People

Who are we?

We're a small research team of disabled academics and non-disabled allies engaged in disability research and disability activism.

We've been awarded a five-year, £1million grant from the Wellcome Trust to explore issues which affect disabled people in South West England.

What are we doing?

• All of our projects and events are to be ‘co-produced’ with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations. This means that our research aims and topics, our research methods, and how we share our findings will be shaped by disabled people.
• We will employ three disabled people, allies and carers to disabled people each year over a period of three years to explore themes such as Activism and Protest, Disabled People’s Organisations and LGBTQIA+ issues.
• Making organisations and the community more aware of research and activism taking place across the entire South West.
• Exploring how universities can best support disabled people’s research, and share this information with academics and organisations.

How are we achieving this?

We are:

1. Creating local research ‘themes’ so that the voices of disabled people in the South West can be heard.
2. Creating an advisory panel to join disabled and non-disabled people in the region to direct the network.
3. Providing the opportunity to become a community researcher working with the University to address disabled people’s issues.
4. Getting involved with public engagement sessions such as festivals, exhibitions and shows that demonstrate disabled people’s research.
5. Creating a new, innovative research training course led by disabled people as agents for change.

How can you get involved?

Our current research themes are:

• Arts and Employment
• Experiences of Disabled People from Global Majority Backgrounds
• Activism and Advocacy
• Disabled People's Organisations
• Experiences of People with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities 
• LGBTQIA+.

Below are some examples of how you can engage with the project.

Working groups

We engage with working groups to support the formation of our research themes.

We ask people to contribute to up to six (online) meetings a year for which you will be reimbursed for your time.

Community researchers

We also offer three part-time, paid roles for disabled people, allies and carers of disabled people to become Community Researchers to respond to the research themes. These are likely to be advertised again in Spring 2025.

Other ways to get involved

We often look for participants to be involved in our existing research, such as via focus groups and creative workshops.

For more information about any of the above and how to get involved, please email the team via wearethepeople@bathspa.ac.uk.

You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram by searching @WeArePeople_BSU.

Projects we've been working on

• Dr Stuart Read
• Dr Ben Simmons
• Dr Theo Blackmore
• Hazel Vernon, Project Manager
• Arthur Holt, Project Assistant

Funded by Wellcome