Inclusive research in tourism: are we enabling or disabling people with disability?

Inclusive research embraces power-sharing between the researchers and the ‘researched’, particularly when working with socially marginalised populations, such as people with disability. While studies involving people with disability in tourism are gaining academic momentum, researchers have questioned if existing approaches are indeed inclusive. Prior scholarship contends that people with disability may even be reluctant to participate in research, due to limited capacity for outcomes that generate tangible changes to their everyday lives. Consequently, a conceptual synthesis of existing discourse on people with disability in tourism is conducted to assess the extent to which the research is inclusive. Emerging from an emancipatory research paradigm, the Research Inclusivity Spectra (RIS) is developed, designed to stimulate further constructive dialogue on inclusive research approaches in tourism, with an explicit focus on people with disability. This research contributes to an evolving debate designed to advance the conceptual understanding of disability inclusive research in tourism. Future research should utilise the RIS to critically evaluate the inclusivity of studies that involve people with disability, with an emphasis on moving towards transformative inclusive approaches.