The lives of children and adolescents with disabilities : an introduction

Abstract

The choice of the term ‘lives’, rather than ‘life’ in the title of this book, was intentional. Every child and adolescent, disabled or non-disabled, is a unique individual with a particular set of attributes, interests, aspirations and life experiences. Disabled children and adolescents are as diverse as any group of young people. Whilst many will be engaged in similar activities, for example, making their way through education, their experiences of those activities will vary. Impairment does play a role here. The lives of disabled children and adolescents do differ according to the nature of their impairments – at least to some degree. More significantly, however, their lives differ because of the different social, cultural, economic and political contexts in which they live. It is because of this diversity that we chose to talk of lives, plural. That ‘disabled childhoods’ are shaped by different social formations and cultural contexts is starting to be recognised. Further research is needed, however, to truly understand these processes and the impact that they have on children’s quality of life and wellbeing. We hope that this book makes a useful contribution in this regard, providing readers with a window into the lives of a diverse group of young people. The chapters in this book also provide insights into the social systems and processes that impact the lives of disabled children and adolescents and the strategies and practices that these young people use to shape their own lives.