Voyaging on the seas of spirit: an ongoing journey towards understanding disability and humanity

Abstract

In an important article in Disability & Society Hughes argued that ontology is becoming a ‘live issue’ in disability studies. Different sources, including non‐western and aboriginal conceptions of disability and cosmology and the literature on philosophy, religion, palliative and healthcare, suggest that we are missing a critical aspect of humanity in our discussions – the spirit. Drawing upon collectively defined or interpreted experiences of disability identified in non‐Western and aboriginal communities we identify gaps in our ontological discussions which result from taken for granted assumptions that there is only individual experience. When we incorporate spirit in our thinking we become open to emerging ways of understanding disability and humanity. Spirit is a critical, although often intangible, aspect of being alive. Drawing on these sources, ontological discussions around disability leads us to explore how experiences of disability teach us about the multiple dimensions of being human.

Keywords:

• spirit
• spirituality
• embodiment
• aboriginal
• ontology
• epistemology

Notes

1. We recognize that few of the writings we cite come from those within the communities themselves but believe that, despite this, they illustrate gaps and silences from which we can learn.