“We have been magnified for years - now you are under the microscope!": Co-researchers with learning disabilities created an online survey to challenge public understanding of learning disabilities

Public attitudes towards learning disabilities (LDs) are generally reported as positive, inclusive and empathetic. However, these findings do not reflect the lived experiences of people with LDs. To shed light on this disparity, a team of co-researchers with LDs created the first online survey to challenge public understanding of LDs, asking questions in ways that are important to them and represent how they see themselves. Here, we describe and evaluate the process of creating an accessible survey platform and an online survey in a research team consisting of academic and non-academic professionals with and without LDs or autism. Through this inclusive research process, the co-designed survey met the expectations of the co-researchers and was well-received by the initial survey respondents. We reflect on the co-researchers’ perspectives following the study completion, and consider the difficulties and advantages we encountered deploying such approaches and their potential implications on future survey data analysis

Contextualizando a invasão à Baia dos Porcos Contextualizing the invasion of the Bay of Pigs

A decisão do governo dos Estados Unidos de invadir Cuba, em abril de 1961, foi resultado de uma combinação de vários fatores históricos e políticos. Entre eles, a continuidade das interferências dos Estados Unidos no contexto do entorno caribenho, de forma direta (entre o início do século XX até o início dos anos 1930), e, mais tarde, de forma indireta; as bem sucedidas intervenções promovidas pela CIA no Irã (1953) e na Guatemala (1954); além da "necessidade" política, no plano doméstico, do recém-eleito presidente Kennedy de demonstrar o quão comprometido estava com a contenção do comunismo. Ou seja, nenhum fator isolado pode explicar, sozinho, a decisão de ir em frente com um plano que findou por ser um grande fracasso político para o governo dos EUA.<br>The decision of the United States government to intervene in Cuba, in April 1961, was the result of a combination of historical and political factors. Among them, the history of US interference in the Caribbean context, both directly (between the beginning of the 20th century up to the first years of the 1930's), and, later on, indirectly; the successful interventions promoted by the CIA in Iran (1953) and Guatemala (1954); as well as the political "need", domestically, of recently elected president Kennedy to demonstrate how committed he was with containing communism. Thus, no single factor can solely explain the decision to go ahead with the plan, which turned out to be a huge political failure for the US government