Background

The Dignity Project is presented by The Hopkins Centre: Research for Rehabilitation and Resilience and the Queensland Government, Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist.

The Dignity Project is a research and citizen science initiative aimed at disrupting stereotypes and breaking through barriers that people with disabilities experience every day. Whether overt or covert, deliberate or unconscious, these barriers lead to undignified treatment and exclusion. The Dignity Project wants to inform disability reform for the future and will learn from the past and stories that would otherwise remain untold. Through stories, we can illuminate future possibilities, but also pathways that should never again be travelled.

Funded by the Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist, Citizen Science grant, The Dignity Project Team is made up of people with disability and people without. At the intersection between human experience of disability and science, The Dignity Project uses a digital engagement and analysis platform, where people with disabilities can share, reinterpret, and analyse their collective experiences. It also features citizens and researchers co-designing research as well as service and system innovations for the future.

The Dignity Project team understands that people with disability are the experts of their experiences and strives for research to reflect that, intentionally using the word ‘uncover’ in our research framework as a reminder that experiences of dignity and indignity are not new, we are simply using different, more inclusive techniques to uncover them. The project team takes a holistic approach to research and is guided by the outcomes of citizen engagement.

This is a living document that outlines the values and operational commitment of the Dignity Project. It will help The Dignity Project and Hopkins Centre to use the most efficient and inclusive systems, processes and language throughout the delivery of the project and beyond. It can be used to support conversations and communications about The Dignity Project with external stakeholders, including citizens, research partners and media.