Identity Construction and Illness Narratives in Persons with Disabilities

This book investigates how being diagnosed with various disabilities impacts on identity. Once diagnosed with a disability, there is a risk that this label can become the primary status both for the person diagnosed as well as for their family. This reification of the diagnosis can be oppressive because it subjugates humanity in such a way that everything a person does can be interpreted as linked to their disability. Drawing on narrative approaches to identity in psychology and social sciences, the bio-psycho-social model and a holistic approach to disabilities, the chapters in this book understand disability as constructed in discourse, as negotiated among speaking subjects in social contexts, and as emergent. By doing so, they amplify voices that may have otherwise remained silent and use storytelling as a way of communicating the participants' realities to provide a more in-depth understanding of their point of view. This book will be of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, sociology, medical humanities, disability research methods, narrative theory, and rehabilitation studies.

Chalotte Glintborg is a scientist from Aalborg University, Denmark, who specializes in rehabilitation psychology and holds a PhD in psychology. Her research has centred on exploring first-person perspectives on the emotional consequences of living with illness/disabilities, e.g. identity problems, distress, shame, and depression, etc. Manuel L. de la Mata is full professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Seville, Spain, and the head of the Laboratory of Human Activity Research Group and holds a PhD in psychology. His recent research has centred on the narrative construction of self and autobiographical memory in cultural context, and gender and culture.

1. Narrative inquiry in disability research. 2. Narrative identity is social context. 3. Stories of self when living with aphasia in a digitalised society. 4. "We got a second chance" Couple narratives after being affected by an acquired brain injury. 5. Narrative Identity and dementia: The problem of living with fewer available resources. 6. Recovery stories of people diagnosed with severe mental illness: Katabatic and Anabatic narratives. 7. (Re)constructing identity in aphasia: A preliminary study about how people with aphasia describe and narrate their selves. 8. Narratives and identity construction of children with a developmental speech and language disorders. 9. Hope in offenders' narratives of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). 10. Conclusion and future perspectives.