‘To Have a Paddle and a Rudder’: A Postmodern Narrative Study of the Lives of Families with Disability

Abstract

This is a narrative study of daily lives for families who have a member with a disability (families with disability). Families with disability are often studied in a way that centralizes disability rather than personhood. The medical model and social models of disability work to create a framework of how disability might be viewed. However, these models are problematic because they have a tendency to cover over the smaller, more subjective stories of disability. Stories told by families with disability are important to tell, hear, and understand because they provide new and alternative ways of looking at life with disability. In this study, I interviewed families (being any group of people that consider themselves to be family) with disability. I conducted interviews with two or more members of five families who have a member with disability. Narrative analysis of data resulted in the writing of three stories that tell of daily life for families with disability. The stories are then further analyzed to reveal conventional and unconventional readings. Conventional readings show how dominant narratives shape understanding of family life with disability. Unconventional readings were derived using a postmodern lens. These readings uncover lesser heard, as well as difficult to tell and hear stories. The dissertation concludes with recommendations and suggestions for health and social care providers that work with families with disability or in other disability-related contexts.