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Professor Lindsay O'Dell
Professional biography
I am the director of the Graduate School at the Open University. My current teaching focusses on postgraduate research skills benchmarked to Research Councils' training expectations.
My key area of teaching and research interest focuses on children who are in some way ‘different’, including children with autism, working children, sexually abused children and children with a visible difference. I have pursued this through my teaching and research at a number of universities before joining the OU in September 2008.
I am interested in ‘difference’ in terms of concepts such as cultural identity, geographical location, gender, ethnicity, age and (dis)ability. This has led me to become involved in a number of projects such as a DelPHE/British Council funded project to work with the Royal University in Phnom Pehn (where I was an adjunct professor to the Psychology Department) and an ESRC funded project to examine young people’s unusual work roles (including young people who act as young carers and language brokers).
Research interests
My research focuses on three broad areas:
- Constructions of child development in contemporary society, including issues of disability, neurodiversity, migration and 'culture'
- neurological difference and the construction of autism
- understandings of non/normative development
Teaching interests
My key teaching interests are within the children and young people area, particularly:
- Lifespan development and early years development
- Child abuse, child protection
- Developmental psychology
- Research methods
I am interested in acknowledging 'difference' in teaching situations, including difference around gender, 'culture', ethnicity, (dis)ability and geographical location. I have a strong commitment to equal opportunities and valuing diversity.
I have experience of examining and validating undergraduate and taught Masters programmes at 5 British Universities.
Research groups
| Name | Type | Parent Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Children and Young People Research Group | Group | Faculty of Health and Social Care |
Externally funded projects
MK Gallery Evaluation
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | 19 Feb 2020 | 31 Dec 2021 | MK Gallery |
This is an evaluation of MK Gallery’s art project that supports families who have a child with complex needs. | |||
Disabled children and their families’ experiences of inclusion through the Art and Us programme
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | 01 Jan 2020 | 31 Dec 2021 | Rix-Thompson-Rothenburg Foundation |
This is an extension of the evaluation work that the team are undertaking for MK Gallery’s art project that supports families who have a child with complex needs. The project aims to document families’ experiences of an art project and its impact on the wellbeing of the whole family including a child with profound and multiple learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities. | |||
Swedish/UK research dialogue on critical approaches to autism
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | 01 Sep 2016 | 31 Aug 2017 | ISRF Independent Social Research Foundation |
The project will enable academics from the UK and Sweden to engage in a series of meetings and dialogues. Dr Lindsay O’Dell (The Open University, UK) and Associate Professor Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist (Umea University, Sweden) will visit each other to explore and refine conceptual work around the construction of autism. Their joint work to date has begun to develop a critical approach to understanding autism, conceptualising it as an identity rather than as a medical diagnostic category. This approach, whilst becoming more recognised, is still in its earliest stages of development as an international research field. | |||
Narratives of ADHD: A qualitative study of women’s narrative accounts of living with ADHD
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | 01 Apr 2015 | 31 Mar 2016 | BRITAC British Academy |
Taking a qualitative, discursive approach to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder we focus on the narratives of women in the UK who have either a formal, or self defined, diagnosis of ADHD. Understandings and patterns of diagnosis of ADHD can be seen to be gendered, with the assumption that it affects boys and men. The study will contribute to knowledge on the lives of girls and women with ADHD, examining women’s retrospective accounts to make sense of their transition through childhood to become adults with ADHD. The project is an exploratory study to collect a new, small corpus of qualitative data on women with ADHD and to identify issues to be explored in a future larger scale research project. The project aims to carry out a discursive analysis of women’s narratives to: • Investigate the identity work of women in relation to their experiences of living with ADHD • Explore (possible) differences in the way women assumed an ADHD identity in either childhood or adulthood; in order to examine how ADHD impacted upon their childhood and the role of diagnosis in childhood, later in adulthood or self-identification • Explore how women account retrospectively for ADHD in their childhood and how they construe their transitions to adulthood This will be of interest to qualitative researchers in ADHD, gender and disability studies and practitioners in health, social care and education. | |||
Evaluation of Spinal Injuries Association
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | 26 Jan 2015 | 30 Apr 2015 | Spinal Injuries Association |
Aims of the evaluation: • To cover all 10 regional centres in England and Wales, including the service based at Headley Court for armed forces • Evaluate current peer support service in the regions • Explore areas of need for additional service provision e.g. peer support in the community, further support for families and friends, additional support for healthcare practitioners • Explore other issues as required for example, examine the mixed feedback regarding feeling more/less isolated following seeing a peer support worker | |||
Critical autism network: Policy, practice and identities in 5 national contexts
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | 01 Sep 2014 | 31 Aug 2017 | LEVERHULME The Leverhulme Trust |
Drawing on expertise from the UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Sweden, the Critical Autism Research Network brings together researchers who are keen to advance and deepen knowledge about the complex worlds of autism experiences, identities, cultures, politics and policy. Bridging a range of academic disciplines from sociology to philosophy of science to political science and psychology, network leaders are interested primarily in locating what we can learn comparatively about the experience of autism in different national contexts focusing on five themes: the construction of autism; advocacy; neurodiversity; policies and interventions. The bid will support three annual meetings which will enable the group to work together, to host conferences around the network’s key themes and to produce a series of publications. | |||
Exploring narrative approaches to research and re-presentation in the late postmodern era
| Role | Start date | End date | Funding source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-investigator | 01 Dec 2013 | 31 May 2014 | BSA The British Sociological Association |
We are now in the beginnings of late post-modernity (Braidotti 2006). This conference seeks to bring together a group of like-minded researchers who are interested in exploring the possibilities of narrative approaches in sociological research, especially in health and social care. Furthermore, this conference seeks to equip emerging scholars with the skills to enact high quality narrative research. | |||
Publications
Journal articles
“I just filled out a form” Experiences of Doctoral Students with Disabilities, Long-term Health Conditions and/or Additional Study Needs (2024)
O'Connor, Grainne; O'Dell, Lindsay; Álvarez, Inma; Tipi, Nicoleta; Bowes-Catton, Helen and Luck, Rachael
Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 26(1) (pp. 211-226)
It's bittersweet, it's uncomfortable, yes, but it's necessary. Methodological reflections on the experiences of young adults with life-shortening conditions on being involved in inclusive qualitative research (2024)
Earle, Sarah; Blackburn, Maddie; Chambers, Lizzie; Downing, Julia; Flemming, Kate; Hale, Jamie; Marston, Hannah; O'Dell, Lindsay and Sinason, Valerie
Progress in Palliative Care, 32(6) (pp. 438-445)
Challenging Norms: Making Non-Normative Choices in Childbearing. Results of a Meta Ethnographic Review of the Literature (2023-01)
Madeley, Anna-Marie; Earle, Sarah and O'Dell, Lindsay
Midwifery, 116, Article 103532
'Whose life are they going to save? It's probably not going to be mine!' Living with a Life-shortening Condition during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: A grounded theory study of embodied precarity (2022)
Earle, Sarah; Blackburn, Maddie; Chambers, Lizzie; Downing, Julia; Fleming, Kate; Hale, Jamie; Marston, Hannah R.; O'Dell, Lindsay; Sinason, Valerie; Watts, Lucy and Whitney, Sally
Qualitative Health Research, 32(14) (pp. 2055-2065)
Views and Experiences of Sex, Sexuality and Relationships Following Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of the Qualitative Literature (2020-12)
Earle, Sarah; O'Dell, Lindsay; Davies, Alison and Rixon, Andrew
Sexuality and Disability, 38(4) (pp. 567-595)
Adult women and ADHD: on the temporal dimensions of ADHD identities (2019-06-03)
Stenner, Paul; O'Dell, Lindsay and Davies, Alison
Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 49(2) (pp. 179-197)
Role of peer support for people with a spinal cord injury (2019-03-27)
O'Dell, Lindsay; Earle, Sarah; Rixon, Andrew and Davies, Alison
Nursing Standard, 34(4) (pp. 69-75)
Childhoods past and present: anxiety and idyll in reminiscences of childhood outdoor play and contemporary parenting practices (2019)
Rixon, Andy; Lomax, Helen and O'Dell, Lindsay
Children's Geographies, 17(5) (pp. 618-629)
Doing it differently: emancipatory autism studies within a neurodiverse academic space (2019)
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna; Kourti, Marianthi; Jackson-Perry, David; Brownlow, Charlotte; Fletcher, Kirsty; Bendelman, Daniel and O'Dell, Lindsay
Disability & Society, 34(7-8) (pp. 1082-1101)
[Editorial] Different adulthoods: Normative development and transgressive trajectories (2018-08-01)
O’Dell, Lindsay; Brownlow, Charlotte and Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna
Feminism & Psychology, 28(3) (pp. 349-354)
Young peoples’ reflections on what teachers think about family obligations that conflict with school: A focus on the non-normative roles of young caring and language brokering (2017-11-01)
Crafter, Sarah; Cline, Tony; Abreu, Guida de and O'Dell, Lindsay
Childhood, 24(4) (pp. 517-530)
‘‘You try to keep a brave face on but inside you are in bits’’: Grandparent experiences of engaging with professionals in Children’s Services (2017-05-01)
Tarrant, Anna; Featherstone, Brid; O'Dell, Lindsay and Fraser, Clare
Qualitative Social Work, 16(3) (pp. 351-366)
Critical autism studies: exploring epistemic dialogues and intersections, challenging dominant understandings of autism (2016-05-07)
O'Dell, Lindsay; Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna; Ortega, Francisco; Brownlow, Charlotte and Orsini, Michael
Disability & Society, 31(2) (pp. 166-179)
Using vignette methodology as a tool for exploring cultural identity positions of language brokers (2015-11-24)
Crafter, S.; de Abreu, G.; Cline, T. and O'Dell, L.
Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 28(1) (pp. 83-96)
"What's the point in having friends?" reformulating notions of friends and friendship for adults with autism. (2015-10-01)
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna; Brownlow, Charlotte and O'Dell, Lindsay
Disability Studies Quarterly, 35(4)
Whose development are we talking about? Commentary on Deconstructing Developmental Psychology (2015-08)
O'Dell, Lindsay
Feminism & Psychology, 25(3) (pp. 402-407)
“An Association for all” - Notions of the Meaning of Autistic Self-Advocacy Politics within a Parent-Dominated Autistic Movement (2015-05)
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna; O'Dell, Lindsay and Brownlow, Charlotte
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 25(3) (pp. 219-231)
Children, money and work: transitions to adulthood (2014-06)
O'Dell, Lindsay; Crafter, Sarah; Abreu, Guida and Cline, Tony
Australian Community Psychologist, 26(1) (pp. 28-36)
The citizen-worker: ambivalent meanings of ‘real jobs’, ‘full citizenship’ and adulthood in the case of autistic people (2014-06)
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna; O'Dell, Lindsay and Brownlow, Charlotte
Australian Community Psychologist, 26(1) (pp. 18-27)
Mapping the social geographies of autism – online and off-line narratives of neuro-shared and separate spaces (2013)
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hannah; Brownlow, Charlotte and O'Dell, Lindsay
Disability & Society, 28(3) (pp. 367-379)
The problem of interpretation in vignette methodology in research with young people (2012-12)
O'Dell, Lindsay; Crafter, Sarah; Abreu, Guida de and Cline, Tony
Qualitative Research, 12(6) (pp. 702-714)
Young people’s representations of language brokering (2011)
Cline, Tony; Crafter, Sarah; O'Dell, Lindsay and de Abreu, Guida
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 32(3) (pp. 207-220)
Constructing 'normal childhoods': Young people talk about young carers (2010-10)
O'Dell, L.; Crafter, S.; De Abreu, G. and Cline, T.
Disability and Society, 25(6) (pp. 643-655)
Recent research on child language brokering in the United Kingdom (2010)
Cline, Tony; De Abreu, Guida; O'Dell, Lindsay and Crafter, Sarah
MediAziono: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies on Language and Cultures, 10 (pp. 105-124)
Challenging understandings of 'theory of mind': a brief report (2009-12)
Brownlow, Charlotte and O'Dell, Lindsay
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 47(6) (pp. 473-478)
Representations of autism: Implications for community healthcare practice (2009-07)
Brownlow, Charlotte and O'Dell, Lindsay
Community Practitioner, 82(7) (pp. 18-21)
Young Peoples’ Representations of ‘Atypical’ Work in English Society (2009-05)
Crafter, Sarah; O'Dell, Lindsay; Abreu, Guida de and Cline, Tony
Children and Society, 23(3) (pp. 176-188)
Changing families, changing childhoods: changing schools? (2009-03)
Cline, Tony; Crafter, Sarah; de Abreu, Guida and O'Dell, Lindsay
Pastoral Care in Education, 27(1) (pp. 29-39)
'Coping quite well with a few difficult bits': Living with disfigurement in early adolescence (2009)
Prior, Jess and O'Dell, Lindsay
Journal of Health Psychology, 14(6) (pp. 731-740)
Suffering children, dead babies and the appeal of the universal child (2008)
O'Dell, Lindsay
Annual Review of Critical Psychology, 6
Representations of the ‘damaged’ child: ‘child saving’ in a British children’s charity ad campaign (2008)
O'Dell, Lindsay
Children and Society, 22(5) (pp. 383-392)
Complexities and ambiguities in the bonds of love: women carers of elders (2007)
O'Dell, Lindsay
Psychology of Women Section Review, 9(2) (pp. 29-32)
Constructing an autistic identity: AS voices online (2007)
Brownlow, Charlotte and O'Dell, Lindsay
Mental Retardation, 44(5) (pp. 315-321)
Media reports of links between MMR and autism: a discourse analysis (2005-12)
O'Dell, Lindsay and Brownlow, Charlotte
British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33(4) (pp. 194-199)
The turn to culture (2004-03)
O'Dell, Lindsay; de Abreu, Guida and O'Toole, Sarah
The Psychologist, 17(3) (pp. 138-141)
Evaluating a schools' service for children with a facial disfigurement: The views of teaching and support staff (2004)
O'Dell, Lindsay and Prior, Jess
Support for Learning, 20(1) (pp. 35-40)
Distinctly different? Descriptions of the sexually abused and 'non abused' child (2003)
O'Dell, L.
Educational and Child Psychology, 20(1) (pp. 22-33)
Ethical Issues for Qualitative Research in Online Communities (2002-10)
Brownlow, Charlotte and O'Dell, Lindsay
Disability and Society, 17(6) (pp. 685-694)
Smokers' representations of their own smoking: A Q-methodological study (2002)
Collins, Patricia; Maguire, Moria and O'Dell, Lindsay
Journal of Health Psychology, 7(6) (pp. 641-652)
Book chapters
'I could cry all day, every day, about my losses': Caring for young adults with life-shortening conditions — families' experiences of disruption and loss (2024)
Earle, Sarah; Blackburn, Maddie; Chambers, Lizzie; Downing, Julia; Flemming, Kate; Hale, Jamie; Marston, Hannah R.; O'Dell, Lindsay; Sinason, Valerie and Whitney, Sally
In: Jones, Kerry and Horne, Joanna eds. Understanding the Grief and Loss Experiences of Carers: Research, Practitioner and Personal Perspectives. Routledge Key Themes in Health and Safety (pp. 27-40)
ISBN : 9781003435365 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London
Critically contextualising ‘normal' development and the construction of the autistic individual (2023)
Brownlow, Charlotte; O'Dell, Lindsay and Abawi, Ding
In: Milton, Damian and Ryan, Sara eds. The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Autism Studies. Routledge International Handbooks (pp. 20-33)
ISBN : 9780367521073 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London
Support on whose terms? Competing meanings of support aimed at autistic people (2023)
Bertilsdotter Rosqvist, Hanna; Milton, Damien and O'Dell, Lindsay
In: Milton, Damien and Ryan, Sara eds. Routledge International Handbook of Critical Autism Studies. Routledge International Handbooks (pp. 182-193)
ISBN : 9780367521073 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, Oxon
Conclusion: theorising transgressive developmental trajectories and understanding children seen as ‘different’ (2018-10-10)
O'Dell, Lindsay; Brownlow, Charlotte and Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, Hanna
In: O'Dell, Lindsay; Brownlow, Charlotte and Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, Hanna eds. Different Childhoods: Non/Normative Development and Transgressive Trajectories (pp. 146-156)
ISBN : 9781138654037 | Publisher : Routledge
Introducing normative and different childhoods, developmental trajectory and transgression (2018)
O'Dell, Lindsay; Brownlow, Charlotte and Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, Hanna
In: O'Dell, Lindsay; Brownlow, Charlotte and Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, Hanna eds. Different Childhoods: Non/Normative Development and Transgressive Trajectories
ISBN : 9781138654037 | Publisher : Routledge
Working Children (2018)
O'Dell, Lindsay; Crafter, Sarah; de Abreu, Guida and Cline, Tony
In: O'Dell, Lindsay; Brownlow, Charlotte and Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, Hanna eds. Different Childhoods: Non/Normative Development and Transgressive Trajectories (pp. 119-131)
ISBN : 9781138654037 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon
Child language brokers’ representations of parent-child relationships (2017)
Cline, Tony; Crafter, Sarah; Abreu, Guida de and O'Dell, Lindsay
In: Antonini, Rachele; Cirillo, Letizia; Rossato, Linda and Torresi, Ira eds. Non-professional Interpreting and Translating: State of the art and future of an emerging field of research. Benjamins Translation Library (129) (pp. 281-294)
ISBN : 9789027258755 | Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing Company
The 'harm story' in childhood sexual abuse: Contested understandings, disputed knowledges (2003)
O'Dell, L.
In: Warner, Sam and Reavey, Paula eds. New Feminist Stories of Child Sexual Abuse (pp. 131-147)
ISBN : 978-0-415-25943-9 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : UK
The 'harm' story in childhood sexual abuse: contested understandings, disputed knowledges (2003)
O'Dell, Lindsay
In: Reavey, Paula and Warner, Sam eds. New Feminist Stories of Child Sexual Abuse: Sexual Scripts and Dangerous Dialogues (pp. 131-147)
ISBN : 0-415-25943-6 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London
Edited books
Different Childhoods: Non/Normative Development and Transgressive Trajectories (2018)
O'Dell, Lindsay; Brownlow, Charlotte and Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist, Hanna eds.
ISBN : 978-1-138-65403-7 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, Oxon
Conference items
‘I’ve learned that I function as the sort of interface’: Supporting disabled PGRs to navigate the ‘faceless monster’ of university systems and processes (2024)
Bowes-Catton, Helen; O'Connor, Gráinne; O'Dell, Lindsay; Álvarez, Inma; Tipi, Nicoleta and Luck, Rachael
In : Psychological of Women and Equalities Section Annual Conference 2024 (10-12 Jul 2024, Birmingham, UK)
Bearing witness at a time of crisis: Methodological reflections on interviewing young adults with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions in inclusive research (2022-11)
Earle, Sarah; Blackburn, Maddie; Lizzie, Chambers; Downing, Julia; Flemming, Kate; Hale, Jamie; Marston, Hannah; O'Dell, Lindsay; Sinason, Valerie; Watts, Lucy and Whitney, Sally
In : Hospice UK National Conference: Finding a Way Forward (22-24 Nov 2022, Glasgow, UK)
‘Exhausted, emotional, at breaking point’: The mental wellbeing of young adults with shortened lives (2021-11)
Earle, Sarah; Blackburn, Maddie; Lizzie, Chambers; Downing, Julia; Flemming, Kate; Hale, Jamie; Marston, Hannah; O'Dell, Lindsay; Sinason, Valerie; Watts, Lucy and Whitney, Sally
In : Hospice UK National Conference: A New World (3-5 Nov 2021, Liverpool, UK)
'I could almost just disappear, and would anyone really notice?' Precariousness and precarity when living with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition during the coronovirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK (2021-08)
Earle, Sarah; Blackburn, Maddie; Lizzie, Chambers; Downing, Julia; Flemming, Kate; Hale, Jamie; Marston, Hannah; O'Dell, Lindsay; Sinason, Valerie; Watts, Lucy and Whitney, Sally
In : European Sociological Association Conference: Sociological Knowledges for Alternative Futures (31 Aug - 3 Sep 2021, Barcelona, Spain)
Creating a Virtual Research Environment to build a research Community (2014)
Bruce, James; Faulkner, Dorothy and O'Dell, Lindsay
In : UKCGE International Annual Conference (2014, Dublin)
Using the vignette methodology as a tool for exploring cultural identity positions (2010-09)
Crafter, Sarah; De Abreu, Guida; Cline, Tony and O'Dell, Lindsay
In : European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Special Interest Group 21: Learning and Teaching in Culturally Diverse Settings: Moving through cultures of learning (2-3 Sep 2010, Utrecht, The Netherlands)
Researching children and young people's lives: the problem of interpretation in vignette methodology (2010-08)
Crafter, S.; O'Dell, Lindsay; Cline, T. and de Abreu, G.
In : BPS Qualitative Research in Psychology Section QMiP conference (23-25 Aug 2010, Nottingham, UK)
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