Service user-led research

Question 1

User/patient/survivor activism in the UK

Answer 1

Origins late 1960s – in the wake of civil rights movement, parallel emergence to gay and women’s liberation and related to disability rights activism

Aims to:
Pursue a collective analysis of services and treatments which are received collectively
Challenge what are seen as oppressive services and treatments so that people could regain control over their lives
Reclaim the right to autonomy (which can involve challenging professional diagnoses)
Fight discrimination and seek change in social relations more broadly

Question 2

What is knowledge from experience?

Answer 2

It is a hazy concept.

It can mean:
Embodied knowledge- tacit knowledge; skills and know how e.g. managing a long term illness, having a sense of what helps and what doesn’t, managing limits and recognizing triggers
Situated knowledge
Emergent collective knowledge