When they call me cripple: a group of South African adolescents with cerebral palsy attending a special needs school talk about being disabled

Central to the experience of disability are social and political forces and discourses which position people in particular ways. Little is known about the experiences of individuals with disabilities living in low-income and middle-income countries. We investigate the lived experience of a group of...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Disability & society 2015-02, Vol.30 (2), p.241-254
Main Authors:	Bantjes, Jason, Swartz, Leslie, Conchar, Lauren, Derman, Wayne
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adolescents Agency Autonomy Cerebral Palsy Developing Countries Disability disability discourse Disabled people Disabled persons Discourses Handicapped Hierarchies Hierarchy hierarchy of disability LDCs Learning Disabilities Learning disabled people Low income groups medical model Medicine Phenomenology Physically Handicapped Political discourse Political forces Sensory organs social model Social models South Africa Teenagers Threat
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Central to the experience of disability are social and political forces and discourses which position people in particular ways. Little is known about the experiences of individuals with disabilities living in low-income and middle-income countries. We investigate the lived experience of a group of South African adolescents with cerebral palsy. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 adolescents with cerebral palsy. Data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The participants position themselves between the medical and social models of disability, in a liminal space between 'normal' and 'disabled', but do not identify with either group. They describe a 'hierarchy of disability' and position themselves in-between more serious sensory impairments and less serious emotional and learning disabilities. Being disabled is associated with being taken care of, infantilised and being powerless. Consequently they aspire to achieve independence and autonomy, and face danger, which are seen as signifiers that they are not disabled.
ISSN:	0968-7599 1360-0508