Disability-inclusive iterative workshops as a co-design method: a case study

People with cognitive disability are subject to harm in their daily interactions, such as being ignored, humiliated and disrespected. Our study sought to explore this ‘everyday harm’ empirically. This article presents a case study of the use of disability-inclusive iterative workshops as a co-design method. The workshop method had two key outcomes. First, it confirmed that participants were very familiar with the concept (everyday harm) that the study was researching and naming for the first time. Second, participants advised that the research needed to be strengths-based to ensure the fieldwork was safe for people with cognitive disability and support workers. Conducting the workshops in the project’s early co-design phase allowed the research team to engage with a diversity of participants, discuss suggested revisions in subsequent workshops, and create safe spaces for conflicting voices to respond constructively to the changes.