Traditionally, persons with intellectual disabilities in Poland have been researched on and treated as not competent enough to research with. Despite its scientific merit and practical usefulness, inclusive research involving persons with intellectual disabilities as co-researchers has only recently become a subject of interest in this country. The added value of inclusive projects should be analysed from two standpoints, i.e., those of co-researchers with disabilities and co-researchers without disabilities. In this article, we discuss the latter perspective, focusing on Polish researchers without disabilities who have experience in conducting inclusive research with persons with intellectual disabilities. The key aspect of the analyses was to highlight the potential of persons with intellectual disabilities as co-researchers. As a result, we have determined several important aspects of inclusive research in the relational perspective involving co-researchers with intellectual disabilities and co-researchers without intellectual disabilities and the community perspective. The analyses identified four superordinate themes: building relationships in the research team; opportunities and constraints associated with the implementation of inclusive projects; institutional barriers; and the importance of the role of a co-researcher without intellectual disabilities. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.

Intellectual disability (ID) is a lifelong impairment of cognition and adaptive behavior that emerges in the development period. ID is a differentiated disability, whose severity differs from mild to profound. People with ID all have unique strengths and deficits, and while some can live autonomously, others may need significant levels of support. Many people with ID are affected by cancer in their lifetime, and depression and anxiety are psychiatric syndromes that have been receiving the most attention in people with cancer. The chapter provides an overview of how exercise and psychotherapy can help people with ID to manage cancer and depression.