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Identifier

000417830

Title

Κατανοώντας εμπειρίες ζωής, χρήσης και απεξάρτησης, κωφών ατόμων που αυτοπροσδιορίζονται ως πρώην ή νύν χρήστες/τριες ουσιών

Alternative Title

Understanding narratives of life deaf/hard of hearing people who identify themselves as current or past drug users

Author

Αλιγιζάκη, Θεοδώρα

Thesis advisor

Τριλίβα, Σοφία

Reviewer

Τζανάκης, Μανώλης
Μουζάκη, Αγγελική

Abstract

The research presented in this thesis focuses on the lived experience of four Deaf individuals who consider themselves to be or to have been substance users and who are currently being treated in recovery programs at OKANA’s facilities in Athens. The qualitative research aimed to develop understandings of the participants’ experiences of deafness, substance abuse, as well as the process of rehabilitation and recovery. Interviews using Greek Sign Language were video-recorded, transcribed, and transliterated into electronic transcripts. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) procedures were applied in analyzing how the participants made sense of their experiences. The participants' narratives characterized deafness as existential loneliness, oppression, and stigmatization. The stories relayed continuous efforts to counteract stigmatization and marginalization. Participants attributed their history of substance abuse as being a part of an effort to respond to traumatic experiences, as well as a result of the tension they incurred by trying to follow society's norms. Moreover, they explained how their substance abuse, culminated in their separation from the Deaf society, which had been their only secure haven until adolescence. Participants construed their experiences during rehabilitation as being a steep path towards salvaging their spoiled identities. In summary, this research underscores how, on the one hand, the participants described their life experience with multiple stigmatized identities, and on the other hand, they reported how they manage to survive in very adverse and debilitating conditions. Their accounts highlight resistance efforts against all marginalization practices that come from a "socially deaf world" where silence is considered a defect.

Language

Greek

Subject

Deafness

Drug addiction

Greek sing language

Interprectative phenomenological analysis

Rehabilitation trearment

Stisma

Substance use

Δομές απεξάρτησης

Ελληνική νοηματική γλώσσα