The Trajectory of Suffering-Parents of Children with Intellectual Disability on the Future

The aim of the research was to characterize the situation of intellectually disabled individuals and their families, with special stress on parents’ doubts and dilemmas which grow as their disabled children mature and enter adulthood. The subject of the study was to analyze the processual character of transformations related to bringing up children with intellectual disabilities that take place in generational families, in particular, those which are related to transformations on the level of parents’ perceptions, role, and identity. These notions were reconstructed on the basis of the personal experiences of parents of disabled children. The theoretical basis of the research was the concept of a trajectory of suffering, and the applied methodology was the grounded theory methodology.