Guest Blog: Quite a lot like Scotland … but with penguins: reflections on a research trip to Otago

by Katherine Runswick-Cole

If you live in the UK and someone asks ‘what’s New Zealand like?’, then a common response is that it is ‘quite a lot like Scotland”. So after travelling to Dunedin as part of the research I’m involved with asking how people with learning disabilities are faring in a time of cuts in the UK (bigsocietydis.wordpress.com), I can confirm that it is, indeed, “quite a lot like Scotland … but with penguins!” 

Photo: Yellow-Eyed Penguin, Otago, New Zealand  by K Runswick-Cole

 And I guess that is a pretty good metaphor for trip as a whole. The reason for me to travel to New Zealand was to share the research findings (you can find more about that on our blog) and to learn about the New Zealand context. In order to do that, I had a series of meetings in my time in Dunedin. 

My first meeting was with People First Dunedin. This was an opportunity for me to ask the self-advocates about their lives in New Zealand. Our project was made up of three strands asking about people’s experiences of self-advocacy, employment and community living, so the conversation with People First ranged over these topics. The parallels between the experiences of self-advocates in the UK and New Zealand were clear. Self-advocacy is important; too few people with learning disabilities have access to work and people with learning disabilities still experience community exclusion, although those with the right support are living well. When I mentioned to the group that I would be meeting the Disability Rights Commissioner for New Zealand later in the week, the response was “Paul! We know him!”. That is very different from England where the size of the population means that it would be very unlikely for self-advocates to have such direct access to power. So a lot like the UK … but not quite … 

At the University of Otago, I gave a workshop on participatory research, again this would be very similar in both countries. But the wider Higher Education context is different. Back in England, the assessment of research is different and we have to try to measure the impact of our research on the ‘real world’ – we have to try to capture the different our research makes on people, practice and policy makers in a way that has yet to reach the New Zealand context. I was very lucky to meet a group of parents of disabled children in Dunedin. Sitting in the depths of winter (in my summer), I could have easily been sitting in a parents’ group in Manchester. Parents were talking of their fights for resources and for inclusion. And just as parents do at home, people were supporting one another, offering information and advice about how to navigate the ever-stormy seas of education services. A lot like home … 

And finally, I delivered a lecture alongside Paul Gibson, Disability Rights Commissioner for New Zealand. A familiar sort of venue and crowd – disabled people, self-advocates, students, teachers and academics – who were generous in their time and support and in coming to listen to a UK academic talking about the lives of people a million miles away who had discovered that New Zealand is a lot like Scotland … but with penguins! 

For more information about the project visit: bigsocietydis.wordpress.com or follow us on twitter @bigsocietydis 

For more information about Katherine visit: katherinerunswickcole.com or follow her on twitter @k_runswick__cole