Melanie Chapman and Daniel Docherty describe the sometimes painful process of working together to record Daniel’s life history and discuss the wider benefits of the project

This article draws on Melanie Chapman’s experiences of supporting Daniel Docherty, who has a learning disability and Asperger syndrome, to write his life story. It explains the reasons for, and processes of, collaborating on this in the hope that it will help others contemplating life story work. It also describes some of the issues encountered when working on the life story, such as dealing with sensitive issues and how stories can change over time.