In this thesis I explore the everyday lives of young people, aged nineteen to thirty-three, who currently live with, previously lived with, or are thinking about undergoing surgery to form, an 'ostomy' (also known as a 'stoma'). My research focuses on young people's experiences of life with an intestinal ostomy, known as an ileostomy or colostomy. Through a relational lens, I consider participants' negotiations with space, time, relationships (with people, animals, and things), and how they navigate their youth identities. It is estimated that one in 335 people in the UK have an ostomy, with around 21,000 new stomas formed each year. There are many reasons why a person may undergo ileostomy or colostomy surgery, though most often they are formed due to reasons related to chronic or long-term illness. For this research study, I worked closely with GetYourBellyOut, a not-for-profit patient-led organisation which supports, educates, and advocates for people living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a leading cause of ostomy surgery amongst young people in the UK. Although visibility of, and discussions about, bowel-related illness is growing in public discourse partly due to the vital work of organisations like GetYourBellyOut, there still exists a stigma related to 'leaky' bodies and their materials. In this thesis, I bring together and develop work from across Geography, Sociology, Critical Disability Studies, and Crip Theory and implement a flexible methodological approach, to provide a case study example which connects youth, chronic illness/disability, and identity. My findings explore some of the 'space-times' where young people living with an ostomy move in, through, and with, contributing to work on non-normative temporalities and lifecourses. Through the sharing of participants' experiences at home, in public toilets, and in/through digital space, I highlight these everyday spaces as sites of both disruption and friendship. By focusing on these spaces, I explore participants' relationships with people and things, and consider the socio-materiality of these encounters. Furthermore, by taking a crip approach to age, youth, and the lifecourse, and utilising participants' reflections as evidence, I re-think youth transitions, 'young people culture', and identity making practices through the lens of chronic illness. Overall, I argue for more imaginative and inclusive ways of researching and theorising youth and disability which reflect the multiple, diverse, and dynamic experiences of young people living with ostomy. In doing so, my analysis of the data contributes to work at the intersection of youth and disability geographies by expanding on what it means to be young and disabled beyond normative, dependency, and expectation-based narratives.
| Date of Award | 6 Jan 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - The University of Manchester
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| Supervisor | Caitlin Henry (Supervisor) & Sarah Marie Hall (Supervisor) |
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