A self narrative of life-long disability: A reflection on resilience and living with dementia

Abstract

Illness such as dementia has particular linguistic and cognitive difficulties, not the least of which is its depiction in narrative, which may not be taken seriously. This paper builds upon a recently published manuscript by the authors, that describes a methodological approach utilising structural and thematic forms of narrative analysis to keep the person with dementia ‘centre stage’ in their own life story narrative. The aim of this paper is to utilise the same methodological approach and data to explore the narrative threads of a life-long disability, as experienced by a person called Janet who lives with dementia. Janet’s story locates disability not as personal impairment but within the social and cultural context of family and religious life. This contributes to a better understanding of resilience built up over time; in so doing, provides further insight into Janet’s enduring sense of self as she embraced a more challenging journey along the pathway of dementia.