Page No.185-197
Sivadasan Lisha & Narayanan Annalakshmi
Bharathiar University, Coimbatore
The present study attempts to examine the agencies and pathways to resilience using
a phenomenological analysis. Twelve participants who were identified as notably highly
resilient based on objective life-outcomes were included in this study. Semi-structured
interview schedule to elicit narratives connected with experiences of discrimination and
responses of the participants in different contexts like family, work, college, school, and
other public places throughout their life was used. Interview data were analyzed using
interpretative phenomenological approach. Individual psychological factors and social
support appear to enhance life satisfaction among adults with locomotor disability. Family
and society play a prominent role in the positive development of the disabled. Agencies
including wisdom, transcendence, justice, future orientation, courage and temperance
were evident in the narratives of the highly resilient individuals. Their resilience process
involved navigating towards social support in general and family support in particular.
Identification of agencies and pathways to resilience among the disabled can be
useful to design psychosocial intervention programs to nurture resilience in adults with
locomotor disability