People with Lobster - Claw Syndrome: A Study of Oligodactyly Sufferers and their Communication Experiences in the Village of Ulutaue, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Oligodactyly is the multiple malformation of hands and feet since birth. This study pertains to how 15 people suffering from Oligodactyly in the Village of Ulutaue, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, have constructed the meaning of their ailments and how they have communicated with people without disabilities around them in their daily lives.The study is based on a social construction perspective and a symbolic interactionist perspective, with the research method of in-depth interviews. Based on their accounts, we have developed a typology of Oligodactyly sufferers, meaning construction and themes related to their communication experiences. They considered their suffering in terms of having a different body, a body cursed by God, and the body as God’s bounty. The sufferers have been abandoned and discriminated against by their immediate families as well as people outside their families. The way nondisabled people treated them created difficulties for them to survive within society and to be free from their existing agony.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n1s1p136