Abstract
The meaning of the life of people with mental retardation is experienced in the encounter, in an openness to their unique person, in the readiness to give and receive, in a sincere concern for their well-being. In this chapter, I wish to develop this thesis by means of addressing four questions:
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What turns a contact between two people into an encounter?
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What are the obstacles that prevent us from encountering people with mental retardation?
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How can, in spite of these obstacles, an encounter come about?
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How can one experience the meaning of (the other’s and his own) life in such an encounter?
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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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de Ruyter, P.A. (2000). Experience of Meaning in Human Encounter. In: Stolk, J., Boer, T.A., Seldenrijk, R. (eds) Meaningful Care. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9516-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9516-2_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5449-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9516-2
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