An ongoing oral history project at the University of Cumbria seeks to uncover the lived experiences of people with learning difficulties who lived at the Royal Albert Hospital. A recently made video exposed the apparent distress this caused one of the participants. Ethical discussions about the project reached a point of being "stuck". The ethical dilemma was presented at the Collaborative Action Research Network conference in 2009, and the ensuing discussion with conference participants produced a rich, collaborative unpicking of the issues. Problems of power, multiple discourse, historical relationships and ethical fluidity emerged. Analysis of the praxis of the project--that is, ways of "thinking, doing and saying"--suggests different ways of progressing. (Contains 1 table and 4 notes.)