This research examines people's  experience  of  asbestos related diseases. It seeks to explore how people  feel   after   contracting   the   disease   and   how   it  affects them personally. The research contrasts  these  personal  experiences  to  scientific and legal understandings  of asbestos  diseases. It examines  in what ways people suffering from asbestos disease agree - or disagree - with  these medical and legal definitions of what causes the disease, of how it might be  treated, of  who should be compensated and so forth. The  aim  is  to  understand  how  people  interpret their experiences, what values they draw  upon  to  do  so  and  how  illness shapes their identities. This research thus aims  to  explore  how  people  in  affected  areas  are engaging with  Asbestos-Related Diseases and with scientific, medical and legal discourses, and  how  this engagement is shaped by, and in turn shapes, gendered and other forms of identity