listening to life stories from inner london: mobile interviews and map-making

Listening to life stories from inner London: mobile interviews and map-making

The Staying Local Project:Sue ThorpSue LedgerLindy ShufflebothamContact susan.ledger@open.ac.uk

© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

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)

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)

Kensington and Chelsea - 2006

Quick quizHow many lived in their local borough and how many outside?

119 people with high support needs funded by the borough

© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

25 were living in Kensington & Chelsea

94 living away

© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

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)

How we did the researchNine 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)

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)

Sue’s Film

© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

Driving, walking and taking photos

My old front door

© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

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)

Making the life journey maps

Some people chose family photographs to represent a part of their life story

Chosen images were then superimposed on maps

People also used photographs taken during mobile interviews

People used multi media to select images for their individual maps

© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

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)

Using the maps

© Ledger, Thorp & Shufflebotham(2013)

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 needsbenefitted 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)

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)

Thank you very much

Questions