Rethinking disability: establishing the ‘phenomenological congruence’ framework and ‘phenomenological flexibility’ scale for a better understanding of disability

Disability is a deceptively complex phenomenon that cannot be simply understood as an impairment or dysfunction within the individual. On one hand, disability is fundamentally a medical issue, and on the other hand, disability is a social construction where negative experiences emerge as a product of social conditions. Using a blend of philosophical and empirical methodologies, this thesis aimed to investigate how disability should be understood by presenting a viable disability framework, which was then operationalised by constructing a new self-report psychometric scale. In paper one, the ecological-enactive model of disability was evaluated and the conclusion drawn that the model’s strength is distinguishing disability from pathology. However, a thought-experiment involving three different deaf individuals was used to reveal two key gaps of the model: the importance of developmental trajectory and quality agential-ecological coupling. Paper two built on important ideas in the ecological-enactive model of disability and ecological functional model while incorporating the importance of developmental trajectories and quality agential-ecological coupling to form an alternative disability framework: the phenomenological congruence framework. A key factor in the framework is phenomenological flexibility, defined as individuals’ ability to negotiate with and navigate within various ecologies. Phenomenological Flexibility was operationalised in paper three over a course of three empirical studies, in which a 25-item Likert scale measure was developed. In paper four, an online study was used to investigate whether disability types and identity influenced wellbeing using Phenomenological Flexibility and Flourishing as outcome measures, with results suggesting denial of disability identity and lack of identity as negatively influencing Phenomenological Flexibility and Flourishing. Together, this thesis presents theoretical and empirical support to consider the phenomenological congruence framework as a suitable alternative disability framework.<p></p>