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This chapter focuses on the "ecological self" which is concerned with the relationship of the physical self and the physical environment. The ecological self is based on perception, that is, the perceiving of information from the position of the body embedded in the physical world. The ecological self also provides clues to mental states as tied to their physical embeddings. The objective of this chapter is to propose a new concept, which we wish to term as "adapted self" in the context of disability. As sentient beings, all humans have to adapt to the world of physical and psychological spaces. In the case of subjects negotiating the corporeal experience of either physical/sensory disability, adaptation is complex. The physical body has to adapt to the physical environment and take adaptive steps to negotiate altered physical and sensory environmental conditions. The experience of disability is complex and does not end with physicality of the body. The self as the experiencer has to adapt to the psychological factors relating to disability – to structural and psycho-emotional disablism that is inevitable in a normative society which upholds and preserves the concept of the "normal body". The "adapted self" in such contexts functions as an organizer and the executive of the multilevel adaptations made within the physical and psychological environment. Ecological self is the central basis for the "adapted self" enabling the disabled subject in the process of adjustment and adaptation.

DOI: 10.1007/978-81-322-1587-5_15

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