The experience of teaching with Multiple Sclerosis, an emerging blend of theory with practice

grantor: University of TorontoThe purpose of this research was to explore the experience of teaching with a disability. More specifically, I intended to describe and understand the experience of teaching with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). At the outset of this research endeavor, I aimed to explore some of the following questions: what is it about the nature of a teacher's work which makes it challenging for one with Multiple Sclerosis? How does having MS influence one's ability to carry out teaching responsibilities? How does it positively, or negatively, affect the teaching experience? What resources and support networks are available to, and desired by, teachers with MS? Finally, what recommendations do teachers have for improving the environment in which they work, so that it may be more accessible, comfortable and supportive for them and, perhaps, for teachers with similar disabilities? On the basis of my epistemological and ontological assumptions, I chose a qualitative approach for carrying out the research at hand. From the many qualitative models which guide human science inquiry, I chose an approach which merges the aims of, and perspectives underpinning, phenomenological and heuristic modes of inquiry. While I intended to explore the experience of teaching with MS from the perspectives of those who had lived it, I also hoped to acquire enhanced self-knowledge and self-understanding in relation to my own teaching experience, from the vantage point of coping with a disability. Three in-depth phenomenologically based interviews were carried out with four teachers who have Multiple Sclerosis. Focus group sessions were also held with all of them, which served to complement the data gathered from the interviews and ensure consistency therein. Having immersed myself in teachers' stories of experience, I gradually discovered them coming together around a passion for work and desire to stay there. Hence, the question unfolded: How can teachers, who have MS, stay in their profession and hold onto well-being? In other words, the desire to give to and be sustained through their work came forth as a puzzling dilemma in need of practical solutions. Naturally, from there, practical answers for teachers, fellow colleagues, school boards as a whole and insurance carriers, were voiced. Implications were then drawn. Personal along with professional next steps were also taken. As one of those steps came forward as the beginning of a support group for teachers who have MS, the valuable contributions this thesis makes in both theory and practice were revisited and, thereby, acknowledged.Ph.D