Rate My Professor Paul Milner

Paul Milner is a senior researcher at the Donald Beasley Institute (DBI) in Dunedin, New Zealand, listed in the University of Otago staff contacts as affiliated with an external organisation. Prior to his role at DBI, he served as a teaching fellow in the Geography department at the University of Otago. His research specializations encompass community participation and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities, the processes and outcomes of deinstitutionalisation, inclusive research practices, independent living rights under Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the experiences of disabled individuals in state care and housing.

Milner's key contributions include authoring 'An Examination of the Outcome of the Resettlement of Residents from the Kimberley Centre' (2008) as part of DBI's Kimberley Project, which assessed long-term resettlement results following closure of the institution. He led 'I am here: The Article 19 Project' (2012), documenting stories of community living. His paper 'Community participation and inclusion: people with disabilities defining their place,' published in Disability & Society (2009), has been widely cited for exploring place-making by disabled people. Additional reports co-authored by Milner cover the impact of deinstitutionalisation on families and staff of Kimberley Centre residents, 'Mean As!: People with a learning disability connecting the strands of inclusive research and sexual citizenship' (2020), and 'My Experiences, My Rights: A Monitoring Report on Disabled Persons' Experience of Housing in Aotearoa New Zealand.' In collaboration with Brigit Mirfin-Veitch from the University of Otago's Centre for Postgraduate Nursing Studies, he contributed to the chapter 'Researchers with an Intellectual Disability' in the Handbook of Social Inclusion: Research and Practices in Health and Social Sciences (2022). Milner provided expert testimony to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in 2022, addressing disability-related institutional experiences. His work emphasizes amplifying disabled voices through participatory methods and has influenced discussions on social inclusion and policy in New Zealand.