In media res: commenting on the trajectory of lives

The stories in this issue of Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics demonstrate two important things. First these stories explore the space between bodily impairment and the social structures that both enable and constrain the flourishing of those who are differently embodied. The authors of these narratives resist the dominant biomedical interpretation of their impairments, but also demonstrate their dependency upon others--social, medical, or familial others. Second, in writing these narratives, the authors are also engaged in an act of identity formation, which sometimes challenge and sometimes embrace the label of disability. By telling their stories in the middle of the action of their lives--in media res, taking up or resisting the label of disability-they also demonstrate the way in which lives can be lived open to new possibilities and interpretations.