Abstract
This research aimed to clarify the process in which a family with a disabled child links him/her to society. This research employed a continuous comparative analysis which is based on the Grounded Theory Approach. The subjects included 33 parents (15 pairs of parents and 3 mothers) with physically disabled children of school age.
Four categories found in this research were “acceptance* of my child,” “reality-orientation towards the society surrounding conditions of disability,” “formation (reformation) of ‘our own family,’” and “strategies which link disabled children to the society.” (*in this research “acceptance” specifically means that parents with disabled children understand their children not only notionally but actually understand with the feeling that “my child is what my child is, and it is convincing enough”). The core category was “the process to step out into society as a family not with only healthy members but also with the disabled child.” During the period of rearing disabled children, the parents gradually experienced “the acceptance of my child” and “being reality-orientated towards the society surrounding conditions of disability,” while they were undergoing the “formation our own family.” During these processes the parents gradually have come to recognize the relationship between their children and the society and to use the “measures which link disabled children to the society.”
