Working life during the Covid-19 pandemic: social participation, learning experiences, design opportunities and future work life for people with disabilities

Project description

The aim of the project is to explore how the experiences gained from the Covid-19 pandemic can contribute to improve the conditions for people with various forms of disabilities to participate in and contribute to working life. We will explore short-term and potential long-term effects and consequences of working from home in digital settings and what new meanings of social participation, and conditions for participation that have arisen. There is tacit (practical) knowledge and experiences of people with various disabilities that are about participation, influence and democracy in working life that we know little about. Through the project new knowledge will be gained about how our stakeholders have experienced their working life during the Covid-19 pandemic, and what tools and strategies they have used to achieve social participation.

Stakeholders

The primary stakeholders are people with various forms of disabilities, including their families. The secondary stakeholders are authorities, civil society organisations, and employers who are part of creating conditions for this group to partake in and contribute to working life. The research will be conducted in collaboration with a stakeholder network, which will be associated with the project throughout the project period.

Research approach

The project assumes a participatory research approach (Skjeldal, 2021) and a design research approach (Koskinen et al., 2012) and builds on a collaboration with a network of stakeholders. Assuming a design research approach implies that prototyping and design activities are part of the iterative research process. Here, manifested by inviting our stakeholders to be part of an exploratory collaborative (co-)design process, where new knowledge is generated through various design-oriented activities in workshop settings. A comprehensive literature review will be conducted in the initial phase of the project. Data collecting methods are interviews and collaborative workshops with stakeholders in disability organisations and patient organisations. All activities carried out within the project will assume an intersectional perspective.