To date people with severe and profound intellectual disability have been excluded from participatory research projects. This is often due to complex ethical issues and to concerns about how they would make themselves heard or understood. Razack (1993) suggests that the moral obligation to hear such contributions lies with the listener. This study constitutes an investigation of how such listening occurs with contributors who are labeled as having a severe or profound intellectual disability. Human service practitioners who work closely with, and who constantly find themselves listening to and interpreting for, people with severe and profound intellectual disability were recruited for the study. Five focus groups were conducted with these workers. The study revealed that personal values often underpin the various strategies practitioners employed when listening to people with severe disability. Elements like believing the person has something to say; having the time and perseverance to listen; sharing some common interests/rapport with the person and; being able to minimise the many barriers — physical environment, people, self-attitude — that are instrumental in blocking a listener’s capacity. A model for listening to individuals with severe intellectual disability for the proposes of hearing their story is proposed and implications for further research, policy and practice, and education and training are presented.