Research ethics and the use of visual images in research with people with intellectual disability

The aim of this paper is to encourage debate about the use of creative visual approaches in intellectual disability research and discussion about Internet publication of photographs. Image-based research with people with intellectual disability is explored within the contexts of tighter ethical regulation of social research, increased interest in the use of visual methodologies, and rapid escalation in the numbers of digital images posted on the World Wide Web. Concern is raised about the possibility that tighter ethical regulation of social research, combined with the multitude of ethical issues raised by the use of image-based approaches may be discouraging the use of creative visual approaches in intellectual disability research. Inclusion in research through the use of accessible research methods is also an ethical issue, particularly in relation to those people who have hitherto been underrepresented in research. Visual approaches which have the potential to include people with profound and multiple intellectual disabilities are also discussed.