The Struggle to Belong: Stepping Into the World of the Disabled
	Quantity in Basket:none Code: 978-1-61289-145-3 Price:$21.95 Title: The Struggle to Belong Sub-title: Stepping Into the World of the Disabled Author(s): Miho Iwakuma Publish Date: November 2014 Pages: 168 Format: Paper
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An adjustment to severe disability is accompanied by significant changes in several dimensions—psychological (lowered self-esteem), physical (restricted mobility), and social (changed social identity, the epithet “disabled). Such sudden changes also require short-term (physical) and long-term (psychological and social) adjustments. In other words, the investigation of adjustment to a disability provides a unique opportunity to explore various facets of human adjustment strategies and processes. This book bridges gaps among disability, culture, and communication and it offers the reader a rare glimpse of a world of people with disabilities in which their identity transformations, communication tactics as the disabled, or adjustment to new bodies, including temporal and spatial senses, emerge. This book is informative for health professionals, or students of communication, sociology, disability studies, cultural studies, or medical anthropology who wish to explore disability from a social science perspective. Abridged Contents: Preface, Eric M. Kramer. INTRODUCTION. Current Research Status on Disability in Communication Studies and Neighboring Fields. Objectives of the Study. RELATED LITERATURE FOR THE STUDY. PWDs as Hidden Minorities in the World. Counting Disability. Disability Issues and Theories. Research Questions. OVERVIEW OF PEOPLE, DATA COLLECTIONS, AND SETTINGS FOR THE STUDY. Participants. Data Collection. My Position as a Researchers in the Contexts. Settings for the Research. Data Analyses. Advantages of the Present Research. ETHNOGRAPHY. An Adjustment Path: Mr. Haru’s Case. “Nanban?”: Information-Seeking Strategy of People with Disabilities and Adjustment to Disability. The “Information Pooling Places for the Disabled”. Characteristics of “The Information Pooling Place for the Disabled”. Interacting with Others with Disabilities and Adjustment to the Disability. Negotiating with the Nondisabled. Discussion. INTERVIEW STUDY. Repeated Interviews. The Path of Adjustment: Mr. Masa’s Case. Initial Trips Outside: A Prologue to Disability Adjustment. Changed Perceptions Toward the Wheelchair. Changed Communication. Changing Perceptions Toward PWDs. A Learned Role: PWD Communication with the Able-Bodied. Sports and Disability Adjustment. The Positive Consequences of Having a Disability. Discussion. ETHNOGRAPHY OF A WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL CAMP. Communication and Sports. Sport and Empowerment. Foucault and Sports. Data Gathering. Findings. Social Implications of Disability Sport. Disability Sport: A Second-Class Sport. Discussion. ESSENCES OF DISABILITY EXPERIENCE. Embodiment of Disability. Integration-Separation. Defying Disability—Accepting Disability and the Rhetoric of “Try Harder”. Independence-Dependence and the Rhetoric of “Do Not Be a Burden on Others”. CONCLUSION. References. Author Index. Subject Index.