Published : 2024-09-26

From Experiencing Disability to Adapting to It

Turning Points and Therapeutic Values in the Life and Work of Michał Kaziów

Abstract

The life and literary works of Michał Kaziów (a blind amputee of both hands) have been the subject of numerous literary, psychological, pedagogical and bibliotherapeutic analyses–as expressed in scientific and journalistic publications. This article
analyses the writer’s life to identify turning points/epiphanies that influenced his life path and the nature of his literary expression. These considerations reference Lech Kowalewski’s concept of the psychosocial process of adapting to a disability, Roman Schulz’s concept of creativity and Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun’s concept of post-traumatic growth. A modified model of interdisciplinary research into the writing of visually impaired authors is used in identifying the turning points in Kaziów’s life and work and in determining their therapeutic importance for the writer and his readers, paying particular attention to the biographical method, critical-descriptive analysis of sources and the method of participatory observation. The research results are verified
using the personal (autopsy) experience of the author of the study. It is concluded that Kaziów’s life and creative output can be used in the process of biographical learning and bibliotherapeutic proceedings.

Keywords:

multiple disabilities, literary creativity, epiphany, adaptation to disability, post-traumatic growth, bibliotherapy, Michał Kaziów



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Czerwińska, M. (2024). From Experiencing Disability to Adapting to It: Turning Points and Therapeutic Values in the Life and Work of Michał Kaziów. Biografistyka Pedagogiczna [Biographical Studies in Education], 9(1), 103–128. https://doi.org/10.36578/BP.2024.09.24

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"Biografistyka Pedagogiczna" received funding for the years 2022-2024 from the funds of the Minister of Education and Science under the programme „Rozwój Czasopism Naukowych”.

Project duration: 2023-2024.

The amount of co-financing is 65 992,00 PLN

Contract number: RCN/SP/0434/2021/1