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A search for meaning: telling your life with learning disabilities
Author(s) -
Horn Jaime Helena,
Moss Duncan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1111/bld.12093
Subject(s) - learning disability , oppression , psychology , narrative , meaning (existential) , participatory action research , narrative inquiry , isolation (microbiology) , social isolation , social psychology , sociology , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , linguistics , philosophy , microbiology and biotechnology , politics , political science , anthropology , law , biology
Accessible summary This article describes one woman's experience of living life with a learning disability. It gives a summary of research into this area. It describes a narrative approach. This research is important as it helps us to understand the experiences of people with learning disabilities.Summary Research has identified the collective experiences of oppression, stigma and isolation in the lives of people with learning disabilities. Against the backdrop of social and cultural processes that shape and limit the life experiences of people with learning disabilities, the authors are interested in how the individual develops a sense of self and identity. The aim is to further understand the subjective world of one woman with learning disabilities, drawing attention to how meaning about herself and her world has been constructed. The authors present and analyse one woman's life story, adopting a narrative and participatory research approach, with its focus on personal experience, whilst making links between the individual and social world.