ABSTRACT
In my introductory chapter I stated that my intention in this book was to focus upon the influence of new discourses, personal narratives and the use of metaphor. To conclude, I shall reflect upon these elements in relation to textual analysis, the characteristic features of the language of special needs and the personal as political. The tone of this book is one which deliberately seeks to combine the disparate aims of encouraging a critical evaluation of existing, published texts with a fostering of introspection and personal reflection. It is important to me that we both explore what is defined as being ‘real’ in terms of special needs or disability culture and, alongside this, we look to our own cultural status and perceptions of self needs. The examination of one without the other serves to perpetuate the distancing of ‘otherness’.
