The Qualitative Open Mic Podcast

Qualitative researchers are increasingly turning to creative methods and methodologies to expand perspectives on health, healthcare, and divergent ways of being. In this episode Sohail speaks to Kai Syng Tan and Georgia Thom, both practising artists and researchers, about how neurodivergence and art work together to explore marginalised experiences of the world including trans life, neurodivergence, and their intersections, amid the resurgence of the far right.

Autistic people have a whole constellation of communication needs and styles, but these are not always understood or accommodated by researchers. This month, Sohail interviews Alyssa Hillary Zisk about Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): what it is, the range of communication profiles it can help accommodate, and how qualitative inquiry into autistic experiences helped name these to increase understanding.

Neurodiversity and neurodivergence have been revolutionary ideas in autism research, and later in ADHD. But how do they apply to other diagnoses or experiences? This month Sohail speaks to Dr Daria Khanolainen, a dyslexia researcher in Finland, about qualitative dyslexia research, self-esteem, and pathologising reading difficulties.

Parents get a lot of advice, and a lot of it is conflicting or inappropriate. Parenting research aims to be better than that – but is it, when neurodivergence is in the mix? Sohail speaks to Dr Victoria Castle about her participatory research using innovative qualitative methods to co-develop ways to measure parenting that work for neurodivergent parents and parents of neurodivergent children.

Autoethnographers use their personal experiences to explore wider issues, relationships, or situations. So what happens if you experience the world differently? Sohail speaks to Dr Elizabeth Hauke about autoethnography, inclusive education and assessment, and denormativising the university.

Where does neurodiversity sit in relation to broader movements for lived experience led research? Sohail and Dr Hannah Belcher of the Service User Research Enterprise discuss the example of autistic masking and its relationship to mental health.

Has qualitative research been complacent about its ability to highlight marginalised perspectives? Sohail speaks to Dr Morénike Giwa Onaiwu about forthcoming anthology “Neurodiversity en Noir” and platforming Black neurodivergent voices.

This month, Sohail interviews Dr Monique Botha about funding and priority setting, citational justice, emotion in research, and why letting community-led neurodivergence research out of its silo would benefit neurotypical and neurodivergent populations alike.