The advent of the disability rights movement poses what some suggest to be a conundrum for disability researchers concerned with issues of community and education services, supports, and policy: Have we, in fact, now entered a brave new world of policy decisions based not on detached science but on the impulsive desires of a decidedly ideological collective? In response, we offer an analysis of two related policy debates, deinstitutionalization and school inclusion. We then apply lessons derived from both controversies to suggest a framework of participatory democracy for proceeding with inquiry at a time when people with disabilities are demanding that their voices be heard in research and policy discussions. This charge to mandate or demand is arising on a multitude of contested fronts, including debates over the use of aversives, access to literacy instruction, and—quite prominently—access to facilitated communication training.
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