About This Toolkit
It is always important to include people with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (IDD) on research teams, especially when the research is to learn about or gather information to help and support people with IDD. When people with IDD are included in the research process, it helps make sure that the research is important and meaningful to people with IDD, as well as their family members, caregivers and service providers. One way to help include people with IDD in research is by using Peer Support. Peer support happens when a person with lived experience provides support and help to someone else with that same lived experience. For this toolkit, lived experience refers to people with an Intellectual and/or Developmental Disability (IDD) who work on research teams.
This toolkit is designed for two groups of people:
- Researchers with IDD who work on research teams who want to use peer support to engage their peers with IDD in research
- Research team leaders, who may or may not have a disability, who want to use peer support to include more people with IDD on their teams
Researchers with IDD can use this toolkit to learn about peer support. The toolkit describes peer support and the strategies that a researcher with IDD can use to support their peers to become involved in research.
Research team leaders can use this toolkit to learn how peer support can be included across all stages of the research process. The toolkit describes how to recruit and hire a peer supporter for your research team, and considerations for support and accommodations that will help them succeed. Click the section of the toolkit that you want to view: