Down the Rabbit Hole: Reflections on Thirteen Narratives of Living with the “Disabled” Label

These accounts are astonishing in their shared concerns and beautiful in their variety of styles and language. This paper employs a hermeneutic spiral to ask a series of related questions in seeking a deeper understanding of the writers’ accounts of what Inga Clendinnen has called “falling down the rabbit–hole”—experiences of existential discontinuity born of illness and disability. . . . The narratives of the thirteen authors are shown to address ways of exploring intersubjectivity and situation; affliction and respect; and refusal, resistance and solidarity. In conclusion, the paper identifies five lessons that can inform the thought and actions of all those who seek an ethical response to people living with chronic illness and impairment.