ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the biographical meanings of disability and what it means to come back to a meaningful way of life following injury or illness. It addresses why some persons fail to come back biographically speaking, or do so only partially, while others are able to transcend their limitations to live satisfying lives despite severe disabilities. The first stage of comeback is that of discovery. Discovery involves finding out how much failure has occurred, what limitations result, and whether they are permanent or temporary. Necessary conditions for discovery include sufficient consciousness and mental clarity to make accurate judgments, passage of the medical crisis, and both self-interaction and interaction with others about the type and extent of disability. Finding new pathways is the period in the comeback process when the disabled explore and try out, both in reality and imagination, new ways of living.
