Lessons Learned Using Participatory Research to Develop Physical Education Resources and Recommendations for Blind Students

Using a participatory action research (PAR) methodology, the purpose of this manuscript was to describe the experiences of co-constructing resources and recommendations for physical education (PE) teachers, with blind individuals as research partners, aimed at enhancing PE for blind students. Four blind young adults served as research partners within the project. The project consisted of 15 meetings over 19 weeks and two stages, and took place entirely on Zoom. Stage one consisted of four meetings and focused on exploring the needs of the partners and their experiences and opinions related to improving PE for future blind students. Stage two consisted of 11 meetings and focused on constructing resources and recommendations to provide to PE teachers. A constant-comparative technique was used throughout to analyze all meeting transcriptions to help compare, keep track of, and reflect on all ideas. Three themes were constructed based on the analysis: Awareness, Accessibility, and Generalizability that fosters Individuality. We conclude this manuscript by disclosing the challenges, successes, and messiness of this project. Moving forward, we encourage researchers to continue to conduct research that involves disabled individuals as knowers, and in mindful and meaningful ways, to respect their needs.