The Disability Experience: A Healing Journey, Summary
Arthur Soissons-Segal, Ph.D.

Society views people with disabilities as imperfect. I view people with disabilities as persons limited in their ability to function in some capacity. Irregardless of their type of disability, persons cast as imperfect absorb societys negative attitudes. As a consequence, many limited persons view themselves as worthless and as inadequate humans. In some instances, family and friends desert the disabled individual due to their personal image of the imperfect human. In the wake of fading emotional support from family and friends disabled individuals experience rejection from the people who formally cared.

Limited persons encounter experiences of terror. They fear societys response to them and they are overwhelmed by real as well as imagined difficulties they will encounter in social situations. Their limitations embarrass them. They want to be viewed as ordinary citizens, but their inner self as well as society set barriers. Their response is a long term withdrawal to their homes. Some persons enroll in a rehabilitation program but quit when the demands are too threatening. For these individuals, escape is a dead end. In order to relieve their shame and to protect their soul they conjure up justifications for their behavior.

In this self-help book, I reach out to persons who have limitations, their families and caretakers. Using my experience from coping with two brain tumors, spinal stinosis, neuropathy and dyslexia, I use a casual approach to help readers visualize the profound emotional experiences that threaten to overwhelm them. I use illustrations taken from my clinical interactions as well as from my Doctoral research to give depth to the disability experience. The reader is asked to interact with the presented images. Most paragraphs are followed by questions to encourage reader participation in healing the exercises.

The following sections paint the healing journey. My palette includes healing images as well as steps to take in order to progress on the healing path. The reader is cautioned to proceed despite bumps on the road which can be hazardous. Readers are asked to commit themselves to the healing journey. To facilitate their trip, they age given learning seeds necessary for healing, they review principles of goal development as well as signs which signal their achieving wellness. Interspersed throughout this section are illustrations of others who have taken the healing journey.

The final section is a visual presentation which allows readers to look back on their healing journey and to celebrate their newly designed reality.