The Purple Patch: A Research Comic
The Purple Patch is a research comic written by the Purple Research Group and Melissa Kirby and illustrated by Molly Pukes. The comic shares the experiences of 7 adults with learning disabilities who co-designed a participatory research project exploring their experiences of arts-based learning.
The creation of The Purple Patch is generously funded by the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research.
Why write a comic?
Research outputs are often inaccessible to people with learning disabilities, even when they have been involved in the design of the research itself. The Purple Patch is an accessible and creative alternative to a 'traditional' research output, which aims to challenge ideas around what research is, who can be a researcher and how research should be shared.
​
We believe that research should be accessible to everyone!
Each member of the Purple Research Group (PRG) has designed their own character, which has been brought to life by Molly Pukes.
The creative storyline of the comic was written collaboratively by the group, Purple Patch staff and Melissa through a series of Zoom sessions. Character's lines in the comic are either direct quotations from the research or written by members of the PRG. Images of the PRG's research work are also included throughout.
Purple Patch Arts are a Leeds-based charity providing inclusive creative learning opportunities for learning-disabled and autistic adults.
Alongside their Lifelong Learning Programmes, Purple Patch Arts have a keen interest in inclusive research which benefits and collaborates with learning-disabled people. Find out more here or get in touch!
Purple Patch Arts
