Thinking about the “why”-question 1

Abstract

This chapter investigates the initial stage of disability experience when the “why?”- question arises. It seeks to elucidate the “why?”- question against the background of the breakdown of identity and meaning. It starts however with discussing the issue of representation. How to think about disability experience when one is oneself a ‘temporarily-abled person’? Following a lead by Nancy Eiesland, this question is answered in terms of the task of careful and just listening. This task is then performed with regard to ‘first-person’ accounts of being confronted by disability. These accounts testify the experience of a gap between a ‘before’ and ‘after’ that separates life as it was known but has broken down and a dreaded future life that is as yet unknown. The chapter ends with considering the task of careful and just listening in the context of faith communities.