Citation

Boyd KA, Goodwin DL. Adapt. Phys. Activ. Q. 2019; 36(2): 223-241.

Affiliation

University of Alberta.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

10.1123/apaq.2018-0034

PMID

30813774

Abstract

The indignities imposed by the words and actions of strangers in public recreation facilities can deter families with children experiencing disability from using these spaces. An interpretative phenomenological analysis case study was conducted to gain an understanding of how a young family with a child with autism experiences dignity during family leisure. Three generations (parents, grandmother, and great grandmother) participated in audio-recorded semistructured and conversational interviews. The interviews, thematically analyzed and interpreted using the conceptual framework of relational ethics, depicted the family's experiences of dignity: (a) living under a microscope; (b) "screw your microscope, we're going anyway"; (c) emerging stories of belonging; and (d) retreating, feeling overlooked, and lamenting the future. The family members experienced both dignity-affirming and dignity-removing interactions during community family leisure. Dignity was cyclically maintained, temporarily lost, and regained again as family members (re)formulated perceptions of self-respect, rejected stereotypes, and built relationships.

Language: en

Keywords

autism; interpretative phenomenological analysis; recreation