ABSTRACT

Being cheerful and keeping going is scarcely good enough when one has an illness that will end in an early death. In these circumstances the most acute questions arise and the most radical answers are called for. However, it does seem that our situation tends to make us ask questions that few people ask in the ordinary world. And it also means that to some extent we are set apart from, or rather have a special position within, the everyday society that most people take it for granted they belong to. This chapter focuses on this special situation largely in terms of our relations with others, our place in society. This is essentially related to the personal aspect of coping with disablement. The next challenging characteristic of the disabled is that we are different, abnormal, marked out as members of a minority group.