Do you ever wish you could quickly look up some research about an important support or practice issue, but find there is nothing out there or you can’t access what you need? Perhaps what you can find is long, barely relevant and difficult to understand or apply in practice?

The Centre for Applied Disability Research (CADR) is making access to useful evidence easier. You may remember a story EAC published in August about the launch of the Disability Knowledge Clearing House; a comprehensive online collection of disability research and translational resources for the Australian context. It mentioned that there will be a growing collection of Research to Action Guides on important topics.

Research to Action Guides focus on subjects that stakeholders like you have prioritised. They summarise existing research in ways that make it easier to understand what we know, and how to apply it.

There are two Research to Action Guides already available on www.cadr.org.au. CADR plans to create more over the next year. You can see their full work plan by clicking here. CADR would like to ask the thoughts and opinions of the Every Australian Counts community on this series of Research to Action Guides.

Resources like this are really important at the moment. Disability and other service providers need to use supports that are effective and efficient, and people with disability, their families and carers need the NDIS to deliver services and communities that are inclusive and accessible, using strategies that are known to work.

The next Guide: Practicing Inclusive Research

CADR’s next Research to Action Guide will be all about inclusive research. Inclusive research means involving people with lived experience of disability in all aspects of an investigation; the design, the research questions, undertaking the research and interpreting the results. The plan is that this Guide will look at ways inclusive research is being used all over the world and in Australia, and how these examples might best apply in current context. It will pay particular attention to the role of the NDIS and its expectations for choice, control and outcomes for people with disability.

Questions for you:

• How can CADR make this Research to Action Guide really useful?
• Who do you think this resource should be targeted to?
• What formats will work best?

CADR would love your feedback! If you leave a comment, the project officer from CADR may get in touch with you to talk some more about your thoughts.