The Method is the Message: Inclusive Research Today was the topic of the keynote address at the 17th  ISSIDD World Congress held in Chicago in August of 2024. What is inclusive research and why is it important? Covering the 4 C's Community, Clarity, Creativity and Cooperation, the panel focused on the idea of “producing justice while producing research”. What is inclusive research and why is it important? Inclusive Research (ICR) represents movement away from the traditional research paradigm of the researcher being outside of or at arm’s length from the research subjects. Instead ICR seeks to be intentional and purposeful about including those who are experts in and have firsthand experience with the phenomenon under inquiry. It is a hermeneutical approach to research. The numbers plus narrative approach creates more impactful research and without the involvement of and engagement with people who have lived experience the full context of the phenomena is missed.

The motto nothing about us without us has been the call to action within the disability community and communities of marginalized and vulnerable populations since James Charlton's seminal work of the same title was published. Based upon the principle of full and complete participation, Research about the IDD experience should not be conducted exclusive of the voices, experiences, skills and contributions of people who experience IDD most directly. From the idea hermeneutical injustice to  policies and practices that wrong  and excluded researchers with intellectual disability, to a fresh look at Charlton's seminal publication in light of the DEI movement and beyond  NOIRE examines the landscape of  inclusive research and shares who is doing what with whom and why.

In 1987, as state-run institutions that warehoused people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were giving way to the community living movement, applied behavioral analysis and cognitive behavioral therapies were taking hold as suitable interventions for people with complex needs and person-centered thinking, and the PATH model was being developed. Four gentlemen introduced a framework that challenges the paradigms of support structures, behavioral interventions, and the entire infrastructure of human service delivery systems. NOIRE revisits the Gentle teaching Framework as the most logical posture for human service delivery systems and the people who make their living in support of our friends, neighbors, program participants, and fellow citizens who experience intellectual and developmental distinctions...