- Title
- The Connected Lives We Live: Autoethnographic Accounts of Disability, Mental Illness and Power
- Creator
- Pryer, Shaylie; Davies, Kate; Hislop, Lauren
- Relation
- The British Journal of Social Work Vol. 53, Issue 3, p. 1525-1543
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac211
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- In this article, we use a collaborative approach to autoethnography to explore experiences of power in relation to our identities as people with disabilities and/or mental illnesses. We draw on elements of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems framework to consider how we enact our own power or struggle against systemic power in making meaning of our lives. As a team of lived experience researchers we wrote, shared and thematically analysed a series of narratives about our personal (microsystem) and institutional (macrosystem) relationships. Through this research process we were able to identify common experiences of being resilient in the face of institutions that dehumanised and problematised us and tried to render us voiceless—exerting ‘power over’. In contrast, reflections on our personal relationships highlighted experiences of reciprocity, respect and autonomy that energised our efforts towards meaningful and powerful identities—‘power with’. We conclude that by generating strength through our own advocacy, perseverance and caring relationships, we engage dynamics (mesosystem) of empowerment and identity to resist oppressive power at structural levels. This exemplifies the importance of person-centred social work premised on self-determination, autonomy and dignity, and socially just social work that advocates for equitability and fights structural discrimination.
- Subject
- autoethnography; disability; ecological systems theory; lived experience research; mental health; power
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1493881
- Identifier
- uon:53657
- Identifier
- ISSN:0045-3102
- Language
- eng
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