"Alene på perronen"

Magt og afmagt i mødet med assistancehundesystemet

Abstract

This article analyses a narrative interview with Karen, a woman in her fifties living with a mental health disability, who went through a prolonged and conflict-ridden process of being granted, receiving and ultimately losing a municipally funded assistance dog. The interview serves as a paradigmatic single case study illustrating patterns identified in a broader qualitative study of 16 assistance dog recipients in Denmark (Glintborg & Kunzendorf 2026). Drawing on small stories research (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou 2008), positioning theory (Bamberg 1997; Davies & Harré 1990) and the notion of interpretative repertoires (Wetherell 1998), the analysis examines how Karen navigates competing discourses: the grateful and compliant recipient, the responsible and competent citizen, and the unreliable psychiatric patient. A thematic analysis identifies six themes: biographical vulnerability, the expected function of the assistance dog, systemic failure and powerlessness, isolation, control and public exposure, the dog's welfare as evidence, and the struggle for narrative legitimacy. The article argues that Karen's account is not merely a report of a failing system but an ongoing effort to establish, defend and reclaim the right to be heard and believed. Identity work and the struggle for narrative legitimacy prove inseparable. The article contributes with a discourse-analytic perspective on how credibility is negotiated in communication between assistance dog providers, authorities and citizens in an unregulated field, with consequences extending beyond the individual case.