En/countering disablement in school life in Australia: children talk about peer relations and living with illness and disability

Abstract

This paper reports the experiential accounts of 24 young people with physical disability or chronic illness as they make the transition to junior high school, with a particular focus on their social experiences with peers and friends. Children’s reports were examined in a reflexive, disability studies framework, in which commonalities and difference in experience were examined. These reports highlight a common experience of disability-related harassment and differential experiences of friendship, peer rejection and school culture. While children encounter and actively counter disablement in a variety of ways, it is clear that these children are also cognisant of the stigma, prejudices and disabling expectations that are at the core of these experiences.

Keywords:

• disability
• illness
• transition
• agency
• harassment
• peer rejection