RESEARCH IS BETTER

WHEN PEOPLE WITH SCI HELP DESIGN IT

Much has changed in the 10 years since Anita Kaiser, a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto and a research trainee in the SCI Mobility Lab, first entered graduate school.

Then, she received pushback from her advisors who feared her C6-7 complete SCI would bias her data collection and analyses of that data. 

But now, “Research has been slowly shifting to include individuals with lived experience of a specific illness/disease/condition in the decision-making process from start to finish,” she says.

Kaiser said this positive shift is an important step forward because building a strong partnership between the SCI and research communities can enhance the quality of the research and improve outcomes.