What voice, what vision? Addressing metaphors in participatory research

Feminist, intersectional, and post-colonial scholars have shown how the perspectives of marginalized groups are often rendered invisible, while dominant perspectives are presented as universal. Participatory research seeks to counter this injustice by foregrounding marginalized voices and vision. This has been widely adopted in special education research as well as disability and childhood studies. This article examines the epistemological assumptions that underpin participatory and inclusive research, focusing on the use of metaphors of ‘voice’ and ‘vision’. Using ‘inclusive research with people with learning disabilities’ as a case study, we analyze the epistemological implications of these metaphors and highlight contradictions regarding the essentialization of identity and the reification of difference. To address these contradictions, we propose shifting toward relational and ontological perspectives that conceptualize experience, knowledge, and identity as relationally enacted rather than fixed. We propose a set of questions that offer a way of ‘staying with the trouble’. This reframing highlights the performative nature of research and its potential to contribute to the articulation of other possible worlds.