Why I am doing this in this way: a reflective narrative

Abstract

According to Clough (2002, p.8) “narrative is useful only to the extent that it opens up (to its audience) a deeper view of life in familiar contexts: it can make the familiar strange, and the strange familiar”, and this potential to deepen the view of life is one of the characteristics that makes narrative a unique means of making sense of lived life. In this vein, this paper consists of a reflective narrative account of my experience as a research student on the field of inclusive education focused on learning difficulties. The first part of the paper explores the significance of learning difficulties in my personal journey and in my research trajectory and its impact on my choices. In addition I explain the basis of the main question that trigged my curiosity in understanding the effects of inclusive education in the learners’ perceptions of themselves and the others, which was ‘how inclusion could benefit the non-disabled (so-called normal) peers’. In the second part of the paper I discuss how this concern still underpins my research aims and questions, and how it affects my methodological choice of life story and narrative inquiry with a focus in the language in use, particularly the use of metaphors