Young people with disability and support workers share their working relationship in new photo research

^{Attendees at the book launch, 'Relationships and Recognition: Photos about working together'. Photo: Supplied}

The dynamics of the relationship between young people with disability and their support worker is revealed in a new book, ‘Relationships and Recognition: Photos about working together’. The book is a collection of photos taken by 40 pairs of young people and support workers who have shared their stories, from across six sites around Australia, including Northern NSW, Sydney, and regional Victoria.

The book forms one part of an ARC Linkage project exploring what helps young people with cognitive disability and their paid support workers in their work together.

Through the research, we hope to better understand:

• How relationships between young people with cognitive disability and their support workers is currently articulated in disability policy in Australia;
• How young people and their support workers understand and experience their relationships in a range of spaces within local communities;
• Which aspects of these paid relationships contribute to the identity of young people with cognitive disability and their support workers; and
• What the implications of this knowledge about paid support relationships are for realising the objectives of the National Disability Strategy and National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Young people were invited into the project along with their chosen support workers. They talked to researchers in interviews and then over several weeks took photos of the places they go and the things that matter to them.

Dr Sally Robinson from the Centre for Children and Young People is the lead investigator.

“Through talking with people and then seeing the photos they decided to take, we learned a lot about what matters to both young people and to workers,” she said.

“The importance of respect in relationships is clear, and the good humour and sense of companionship between many of the pairs comes through strongly in their photos.

“The book was developed so that the people in the project could see what mattered to people in other parts of the country who were also involved, and also to form a lasting token of thanks for their involvement.”

The book, ‘Relationships and Recognition: Photos about working together,’ is part of a larger project Young people with cognitive disability: relationships and paid support funded through the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant program. It will continue until 2018. Learn more about the project http://rcypd.edu.au/projects/r/

Partners in the project are the Southern Cross University Centre for Children and Young People, UNSW Social Policy Research Centre, University of Dundee, NSW Family and Community Services, Northcott, and National Disability Services.