ABSTRACT
Individuals with disabilities are important members of the research community. Through self-study and auto-ethnographic research, they can contribute to the field of disability studies by raising awareness about the world of disabilities and diminishing the risks of objectifying people with disabilities in research (Oliver, 1992; Zarb, 1992). Furthermore, their contributions to research are not limited to the field of disability studies, but inform all fields. The research community learns by bringing different perspectives to bear on the phenomena under investigation, so research in any field that is undertaken by researchers with disabilities can generate new understandings that are unavailable to scholars without disabilities (Grundy et al., 2005). For example, Colligan (2001) learned about the openness required in the Karaite religion as a result of the openness about her own body dictated by her need for assistance with showering and personal grooming during her fieldwork. It is important for the scholarly community to provide opportunities for individuals with disabilities to be educated as researchers (Parker and Baldwin, 1992).
