Preparing a dialogue conference together with persons with intellectual disabilities

ABSTRACTIn Norway, conducting research projects together with people with intellectual disabilities has been rare. This article provides reflections on conducting a pilot project where people with intellectual disabilities prepared a dialogue conference, together with academics, related to participation in everyday life in large shared housing. Two working groups were established and comprised academics, people with intellectual disabilities and staff. The following themes emerged through analysis of data; ‘facilitation for safety as support strategy’, ‘roles and processes in co-production of knowledge’ and ‘different voices and power’. Experiences and reflections from this pilot project show both tensions and pitfalls when involving people with intellectual disability in research. A key conclusion is that involving people with intellectual disability and staff had an impact, added values and new insights that without their participation would not have emerged.