Presentation by Sue Ledger, Sue Thorpe and Lindy Shufflebotham at an ESRC funded seminar series about doing participatory research with people with high support needs.

1. Listening to life stories from inner London:
mobile interviews and map-making
The Staying Local Project:
Sue Thorp
Sue Ledger
Lindy Shufflebotham
Contact susan.ledger@open.ac.uk
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

2. Our time with you today
• Setting the scene : The Staying Local Project
and what we wanted to find out
• Mobile interviews and map making
• Reflections
• Questions
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

3. Why research local support?
• For a long time government policy has said that all people with
learning disabilities should receive support in their local
community (HM Govt 2007, ADSS/DH 2011)
• But large numbers of people continue to be moved away from
their local area to receive a service
• People with high support needs are more likely to be moved
(Becker 2006, DH 2007)
• Problem particularly bad in inner London (Whelton, 2009) where
research took place
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

4. Kensington and Chelsea - 2006
119 people with high support
needs funded by the borough
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

5. 25 were living in
Kensington & Chelsea
94 living away
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

6. Why it was vital to include people with
high support needs?
• There are very few stories of local support
told by people with learning disabilities
themselves
• We wanted to find out if the stories of
people who stayed local could help others to
do the same
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

7. How we did the research
Nine people reconstructed and recorded their local life stories
(including 5 people described as having
high support needs)
Interviews with 36 people involved in local support inc. families,
front line staff, advocates, campaigners, managers
Case records and archives
Mobile Interviews and Map Making were developed during the
research
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

8. How Mobile interviews came about
We found that walking or driving
together in the areas where
people had grown up made it
much easier to share information
about important people and
places
We called these mobile
interviews. Altogether we did 14
mobile interviews
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

9. Sue’s
Film
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

10. Driving, walking
and taking
photos
My old
front door
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

11. How Life Journey maps
came about: Lennie’s
Story
Lennie was one of the first people to record his story
He had photographs of the house where he used to live with his family
He wanted to show staff where he had lived
Staff couldn’t understand Lennie or recognise the streets in the photographs-they didn’t
live in the area. They did not know Lennie’s history
To explain we put Lennie’s photos on a large A-Z Map
Lennie could follow the photos -Staff were able to understand the locations
The life journey maps were developed to help people keep and share their stories
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

12. Making the life journey maps
Some people
chose family
photographs to
represent a part
of their life story
People also used
photographs
taken during
mobile interviews
Chosen images were then
superimposed on maps
People used multi media to
select images for their
individual maps
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

13. © Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

14. Evaluation of the maps by people with
learning disabilities
It’s good to
have everything
in one place
and in the right
order
The maps
helped me talk
about the
moves I’ve had
We have all
lost parts of
our past.
It’s good to
choose my
own photos
The map
helped me to
tell people
about myself
and my family
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

15. Using the maps
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

16. Reflections: what went well
• The maps and mobile interviews, supported people to
own and share their life stories
• Ideas developed with people with high support needs
benefitted everyone
• Openness to the development of new tools and ways of working –
seeing what works well different people
• Being flexible enough to change if original method doesn’t work
• Remembering that everyone is an expert in terms of their own
lived experience
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

17. Barriers to Inclusion
• Access .
• Time pressure
• Fear of failure
• Worry about risk and harm
• Resources
• Researcher skills
BUT EVERYONE HAS A STORY TO TELL... or as Robert
said -
“You guys story makes you who you are today”
© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

18. Thank you very much
Questions