Lived Experience of People With Acquired Disabilities (A Phenomenological Study)

Acquired disability is a peculia phenomenon that can lead to different personal and social experiences. This phenomenon, which is caused accidentally, poses serious challenges to an independent person who was able to do his/her tasks and leads to different and deep experiences for the disabled person, family, and relatives. This study was to explore lived experience and the meaning that disability has for people who experienced acquired disability. 

This research has been carried out with phenomenological methods as a qualitative research method. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight acquired disabled individuals. The research participants were selected through purposeful sampling and the snowball method. Data collection was continued until saturation.

The data obtained from the interview was analyzed by thematic analysis and after analyzing and coding and combining them, abstracted into seven main themes, including living in suffering, disbelief to limitation, return to childhood, volatile hope, supportive spouse/mother, destiny and social construction of disability. 

People with acquired disabilities have peculiar experiences that are often tough, and makes enduring living very painful. Comparing current and previous conditions doubles the suffering they experience. Despite this, they keep hope for better living conditions and try to adapt to the new situation.