Inclusiveness of Citizen Science. How People with Disabilities Can Participate in Citizen Science Approaches

Abstract

The article starts by stating that “citizen science” holds great potential for the participation of people with disabilities in research and development, but also for research on disability-relevant topics. But how can citizen science be designed in an inclusive way? For this purpose, the paper describes a methodological framework in which citizens with disabilities as well as their representatives and stakeholders are involved in a concrete research and development process - following a high level on Arnstein's [1] ladder of participation. In this, people with disabilities not only take on a supplier function for scientists, but also co-determine research topics, instruments and outcomes. The paper describes a five-stage research process in which the “Wheelmap” - an online road map that shows wheelchair barriers - is jointly expanded by researchers from the project team and people from the target group. As a result, the Wheelmap is expanded through a citizen science approach and insights into the development of inclusive research methods are derived through the analysis of this process.