Pictured left to right: Glenys, Monica, Baden, Dan, Mark, Allan, Luke, Maimona.
A group of people with lived experience were recently invited to contribute to research seeking to improve outcomes in the workplace. The research is being led by PhD student Maimona Faisil from the Applied Research Centre for Disability and Wellbeing (ARCDW) and supervised by Professor Monica Cuskelly and Dr Glenys Holt, as a joint initiative of Possability and the University of Tasmania.
Maimona’s PhD project looks at understanding the social experiences of adults with intellectual disability while at work. The final research will be used to create an instrument that can be used to evaluate how inclusive workplace culture is – so that improvements can be made that lead to better social connection.
“The hypothesis is that the more inclusive the workplace culture is, the more likely the person is to feel socially connected and thus less lonely in their workplace,” says Monica, Director of Research at ARCDW.
Luke, one of the research participants, explains, “it will help people feel comfortable in the workplace and I feel important because I could contribute.”
The team hopes this research will make workplaces more inclusive, as well as entice more researchers to focus on topics to improve the quality of life for people with intellectual disability.