ABSTRACT
Taking turns to present their different points of view, Gloria, who is deaf, and Lesley, who is hearing, reflect on their experiences of collaborative research. The problems which arose are not seen as merely linguistic. Although sharing gender, class, race and motherhood, each woman remained outside her research partner’s defining culture. It was necessary for them to acknowledge this, in order to be true to themselves and to maintain an equality of control over the research. However, it was also important not to stay locked into a single perspective but to be willing to understand and to compromise. Gloria and Lesley see their long-term, multi-media project as cross cultural, rather than a study in disability.
