Show me how and where you belong

The ‘Show me how and where you belong: Belonging and difference for people with learning disabilities‘ project started in September 2024. It is funded  by the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR) under its ‘Health Inequalities’ funding stream.

This NIHR SSCR  funded research activity is to add a complementary strand/ lens to the SPHR project about the social care implications of the study (what social care inequalities might be occurring?)

• Aims

  The main aim of the SPHR-funded project is to explore health inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities (specifically women, LGBTQ+, and Black people with learning disabilities as three communities of focus) through an intersectional approach to health equity, focusing on belonging as an important, but understudied social determinant of health. 

  The specific objectives of the overall project are to:

  1. Demonstrate commonalities and intersectional differences in people’s experiences of belonging (and not belonging), including diverse examples of what it means to belong; 
  2. Describe the structural, economic, social and service factors associated with experiencing belonging, including exploring intersectional variations of these; 
  3. Describe what diverse groups of people with learning disabilities consider to be the relationship between belonging and health.
  4. Co-develop and disseminate a set of accessible, multi-media research outputs capturing key learning relating to: (a) intersectional experiences of belonging and (b) co-producing research on social determinants of health with people with learning disabilities.  

  The SSCR-funded  social care strand will capitalise on the great opportunity to add an additional perspective to the wider study and  strengthen cross-NIHR School links.