Bumps' in the road of life : a case study of disability and travel

This case study is part of a larger project that focuses on people with a disability who travel. Research was undertaken to allow the subjective voice of the participant to relate her own narrative, through which the negotiation of her social self, cultural traditions and identity where evident. A case study approach was chosen to highlight positive areas for the client, to investigate how she set new goals, developed resilience, improved her strengths and social support networks; and how she empowered herself through travel. The participant faces issues of mobility and access, and as a result has faced numerous challenges in travelling overseas, including issues with air travel, accommodation, land transport and personal safety issues. Beginning from the client’s position, and not from the position of theory, builds on each client’s successes and lived experiences. Many clients survive even under constraints of great adversity. A strengths approach is used as the analytical framework, which shows that the research participant is empowered by the creation of a context that requires her to utilise her two most significant and distinctive human capabilities: conceptualising her own world, and making choices about how to inhabit it.