Disability Identity Research Articles

Disability and other identities?-how do they intersect?

This paper addresses intersectionality and disability in global contexts. Disability as a category of identity is often omitted in rhetoric about intersectionality, which usually considers race and gender, with some consideration of other identities. However, disability like other identities is socially constructed, and liable to misrepresentation and is often siloed from other issues and experiences. Someone identifying as disabled may not be recognised by those around them as having other identities too. In discussions about intersectionality, a simplistic "additive" approach is common, while the shifting complexities and interactions between people's multiple identities are not considered with nuance. Disabled people may pragmatically adopt a kind of "strategic essentialism". This allows them to claim a disabled identity and a specific dialogic space in order to gain recognition and perhaps access to support and services. However, they may prefer not to be classified in this dichotomised way because this ignores other aspects of them. Often an impairment is only of importance to the extent that it means that the person needs some reasonable adjustments in order to participate on equal basis with others. Arguably the SDGs and other global guidelines and treaties do not address disability as a significant identity sufficiently, nor recognise it as an important aspect of many people in combination with their other identities, rather than a stand-alone feature of them. When analysing the types of disadvantages that people experience, a broader more flexible approach is needed which recognises the ways in which different identities combine and influence people's experiences.

The pursuit of intimacy: intimate relationship development for women with physical disabilities.

Understanding the barriers and facilitators to intimate relationship development among women with physical disabilities is crucial for promoting positive rehabilitation outcomes. This study investigates these factors using a Consensual Qualitative Research approach. The research team utilized Consensual Qualitative Research. Consensual Qualitative Research is widely used in various social services to address limitations inherent limitations of other qualitative methods. Women with various physical disabilities (n=6) were identified and interviewed using a utilized a semi-structured interview. Their attitudes towards intimacy, outcome expectancy, and self-concept of women with physical disabilities were examined. The impact of physical disabilities, including disability stigma, on these factors was also assessed. Data was coded utilizing multiple researcher consensus as well as an auditor to consensually agree upon domains and core ideas while taking into account validity and trustworthiness, as per the methodology chosen. The study discovered general themes (100% representation) concerning core values and barriers to intimacy, societal barriers to intimate relationships, and hope for future relationships. Typical themes (50-83% representation) included non-romantic intimacy, physical barriers to intimacy, perceived limitations, and negative outcome expectancies. Across the board, the influence of disability limitations, identity, and societal attitudes became evident. The role of rehabilitation professionals in advocating for social skills development and self-confidence enhancement emerged as crucial. The study illuminated barriers to intimacy among women with physical disabilities, such as societal stigma and self-concept associated with disability. The critical role of rehabilitation professionals in normalizing intimacy discussions and equipping individuals with necessary social skills and self-confidence was underscored. This focus could yield enhanced intimate relationship outcomes and improve the quality of life for women with physical disabilities.

Disability Acceptance and Affirmation Among U.S. Adults With Learning Disabilities and ADHD

Personal disability identity is a predictor of psychosocial functioning among adults with predominantly physical disabilities. In the present study, we examined personal disability identity in adults with learning disabilities (LD) and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In samples of 541 adults with LD, 475 with ADHD, and 433 with comorbid LD and ADHD, we examined the structural validity of disability acceptance and disability affirmation scores and the association between these scores and anxiety/depression, life satisfaction, and general self-efficacy. Factor analyses supported a 4-item disability acceptance and 3-item disability affirmation scale in LD-only and ADHD-only samples. Among adults with LD or ADHD, disability affirmation was a meaningful predictor of life satisfaction, and disability acceptance predicted general self-efficacy. Disability identity attitudes are worthy of clinical and scholarly attention in adults with LD and ADHD, and adults with comorbid LD and ADHD may warrant special consideration in the personal disability identity literature.

Disability Identity

Policies regarding people with disabilities (PWDs) are formulated without PWDs perceptive and often rule out disability identity owned by PWDs. Those policies potentially result in further issues regarding PWDs empowerment. This research aims to investigate about factors that shape disability identity and how disability identity could provide a new perspective in policy formulation. Researchers interviewed seven PWDs with different disability conditions to gain their perspective on their perception of disability identity. Furthermore, data were analyzed to form three factors of disability identity, which are structural factors, personal and social interaction factors, also organizational development factors. This research also explains how disability identity could be implemented in public policy formulation through some aspects that could be considered further in policy regarding of disability and PWDs.

Wounded warriors: Multiple identities, physical activity and life satisfaction

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to examine a model specifying that military, athlete, exercise, and disability identities would predict life satisfaction as mediated by physical activity (PA). Methods: Seventy-one military veterans (N = 71) with impairments participated and completed Exercise, Athlete, Disability, Military, identity scales and Life Satisfaction and PA questionnaires. Results: A mediation model indicated the indirect effect of the four identities on life satisfaction through PA was not significant However, PA was predicted by the 4 identities, [F (4, 66) = 2.49, p = 0.05] and accounted for 13% of the variance, with disability identity having the only significant beta weight. Life satisfaction was also predicted by the 4 identities and PA ([F (5, 65) = 4.88, p = 0.001] and accounted for 27% of the variance. However, only the military and athletic identities had significant beta weights. Conclusions: Our findings provide preliminary support for the value of military veterans maintaining a military identity and holding an athletic identity. The current findings suggest that sport psychologists and rehabilitation professionals take a more nuanced and open-minded perspective about veterans who desire to maintain a military identity when becoming civilians.

Conceptualizations of wellbeing among nonbinary individuals in the Midwestern United States: a photovoice study

Background: Traditionally, gender has been viewed through an essentialist lens with fixed biology-based traits or polarized gender norms between women and men. As awareness of gender diversity grows, increasingly more people are coming out as nonbinary – or not exclusively a man or woman. Little has been explored regarding experiences unique to nonbinary individuals, particularly beyond a focus on adverse risks and outcomes to understand their wellbeing. This article discusses gendered experiences and the construction of wellbeing among nonbinary individuals. Aim: The purpose of this study was to conceptualize wellbeing as a complex multidimensional phenomenon through nonbinary individuals’ perspectives. Methods: A virtual PhotoVoice study was conducted with 17 nonbinary adults in the Midwestern United States who participated in online group discussions and in-depth semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed with thematic analysis. Results: The analysis identified five core dimensions of nonbinary wellbeing: 1) Security, 2) Mental and physical health, 3) Autonomy, 4) Belonging, and 5) Gender positivity. Exemplary definitions of wellbeing are also presented. Discussion: Understanding how nonbinary individuals thrive challenges the framing of gender diverse experiences in adversity and presents a more holistic portrayal that community members and allies can strive toward. This study contributes an intersectional understanding of wellbeing in relation to identities of race, culture, age, disability, neurodiversity, and sociopolitical geographical context. The findings of this study can aid in practice, advocacy, and research to bolster the wellbeing of nonbinary people.

‘Conversations with strangers’ – autoethnography and the salvaging of a ‘precarious’ masculinity

I have often felt ashamed of the disabled aspect of my masculine identity. Reflexive, autoethnographical practices help me to ask why? These practices facilitate a reorientation of my frames of reference, from shame to acceptance, by examining attitudes which coalesce around what has been described as the dilemma of disabled masculinity. This dilemma arises as disability is associated with helplessness whereas masculinity is associated with power and autonomy. Power and strength are particularly salient as my own condition is one of weakness, a neuro-muscular disorder. Living outside societal constructions of masculinity can impact identity formation, employment prospects, and educational attainment. I describe the uncommon interplay between my health condition and working as a Further Education teacher to outline an accord between the precarity of this role and a disabled, masculine intersectionality. Accordingly, I assert that my disabled male identity is vital, vibrant, and valuable.

“I’m a good mother; I play with her; I love her”: The motherhood experience of women with intellectual disabilities from empowering and intersectional approaches

BackgroundDespite the growing recognition of the right of women with disabilities to become mothers, this right remains significantly under-fulfilled among women with intellectual disabilities (ID). Whereas the voice of mothers with ID has begun being heard in research, most studies still focus on the barriers to motherhood and the difficulties associated with childrearing. ObjectiveThe study aims to understand and describe the subjective experiences of mothers with ID, focusing on positive aspects from empowering and intersectional approaches. MethodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 mothers with ID who live in the community and raise their children. ResultsFour themes emerged from the interviews: (1) A dream that came through; (2) Motherhood as an empowering process; (3) The intersection between the disability identity and the motherhood identity; (4) Family involvement as a resource and a challenge. ConclusionsThe findings highlight the need to meet the mothers' twofold identity in an empowering way by constructing a more positive disability identity and further cultivating their motherhood identity. They also highlight the important role of the family in supporting mothers with ID. A positive disability identity and family support are needed to increase these women's emotional well-being and overall quality of life.

Moving the Needle on Ableism: From Higher Education Access to Inclusion

Legislation in recent decades, such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom (1982) and the Ontario Human Rights Code (1962), have increased access to postsecondary education for diverse student populations; however, many students still face identity-based marginalization. While safety and inclusion are presented as foundational for learning, the experiences of disabled students suggest a hostile environment where access does not equate to a sense of belonging and safety may not even be guaranteed. As students’ sense of belonging impacts their willingness to get involved at their institution, inclusion is critical to the success outcomes of students with disabilities. I argue that meaningful inclusion requires universal access and intentional opportunities for participation by people who are historically excluded on the basis of disability and other intersectional identities, which must be preceded by increased awareness of the issues facing these students and collaboration among institutional actors to address them.

Disability Identity in Older Age? - Exploring Social Processes that Influence Disability Identification with Ageing

While there is much debate about a disability identity, this does not apply to the identification processes of people experiencing impairment or disability first in older age, who are often assumed not to identify with a disability identity. This article aims to deepen understanding of the elements affecting identification with disability when impairment is experienced first in older age and their interplay. It does so by discussing findings from a new empirical study drawing on data from interviews with people first experiencing impairment with ageing and by engaging with scholarship from both critical studies on ageing and on disability. The findings discussed show that the issue of a disability identity in older age is more complex and fluid than has heretofore been assumed and that identity is always subject to renegotiation. It points to the role of dominant and binary discourses of ageing, and separate policy frameworks and approaches to activism on ageing and on disability, in constructing (or failing to construct) a ‘disability’ identity in older age. The article argues for greater linkages between the fields of ageing and disability in scholarship and advocacy and suggests that this offers potential to make the issue of ableism more broadly understood and resisted. It calls for more engagement by disability scholars with what disability experienced in older age illuminates about culture and with the implications of disability becoming a more widespread phenomenon due to population ageing.

Navigating visibility and risk: disabled young women’s self-presentation practices on social media

ABSTRACT Visibility is a requirement of neoliberal postfeminist girlhood and social media is often attributed with the capacity to provide disabled young women with visibility that they lack elsewhere. While some attention has been paid to the intersections of gender and disability through the self-presentations of disabled young women who are known as disabled content creators, such as bloggers and YouTubers, this article goes beyond this to examine how disabled young women represent themselves on social media as part of their everyday practices. Using a combination of discursive textual analysis of Twitter and Instagram accounts and semi-structured interviews with five disabled young women, I explore how affordances such as Twitter retweets play a key role in how disabled young women navigate their visibility online as part of their self-presentation practices. I argue that visibility is potentially risky and disabled young women’s social media use is shaped by concerns about harassment and questions about the ‘legitimacy’ of their disabled identities that operate at the intersections of gender, disability and race, stemming from their experiences of ‘systemic disbelief’. Finally, I situate these self-representation practices within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disability Identity: Perspective for Policy Formulation

Policies regarding people with disabilities (PWDs) are formulated without PWDs perceptive and often rule out disability identity owned by PWDs. Those policies potentially result in further issues regarding PWDs empowerment. This research aims to investigate about factors that shape disability identity and how disability identity could provide a new perspective in policy formulation. Researchers interviewed seven PWDs with different disability conditions to gain their perspective on their perception of disability identity. Furthermore, data were analyzed to form three factors of disability identity, which are structural factors, personal and social interaction factors, also organizational development factors. This research also explains how disability identity could be implemented in public policy formulation through some aspects that could be considered further in policy regarding of disability and PWDs.

Pilot study of social and structural determinants of health (SSDOH) measures in the UPENN Alzheimer’s disease research center

AbstractBackgroundTo mitigate health and healthcare disparities in Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease related dementias (AD/ADRD) research and care, scientists must be able to characterize and measure social and structural determinants of health (SSDoH) that may help explain heterogeneity in cognitive, functional, and interventional outcomes in AD/ADRD.MethodParticipants (n = 70) were members of the UPENN ADRC clinical cohort with unimpaired cognition who completed the SSDoH measures via an online survey. SSDoH measures were chosen based on content and psychometric properties. Self‐report measures are in the following categories: (1) Education, (2) Occupation, (3) Economic Status and Strain, (4) Stressors and Subjective Stress, (6) Subjective Social Support and Status, and (7) Sociodemographic data, which included self‐report of age, race, language, disability, neighborhood, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity questions.ResultResults describe piloting the measures, the gaps and strengths of measures, and plans for future collection and analysis. The response rate was 74% (52 out of 70 participants started the survey). Most participants completed the survey within 25 to 30 minutes. Most participants reported being satisfied with the battery, and a few reached out to ADRC staff to express interest in volunteering additional data. Some revision to the longitudinal record of neighborhoods was needed.ConclusionA multidomain battery of SSDoH measures was feasible to implement in the UPENN ADRC clinical cohort. Routine collection of SSDoH may help researchers better understand factors that create disparities in AD/ADRD outcomes and develop interventions to mitigate them.

Injury, Affirmation, and the Disability Masquerade in Ye’s “Through the Wire”

Ye’s song “Through the Wire” exists in two versions. The first was recorded in late 2002 after a near-fatal car crash and features Ye rapping through a jaw wired shut as he recovered from reconstructive surgery. After he healed, a second version was recorded in 2003 and released as the lead single from his debut album. Although Ye raps unimpeded in this later version, it was still marketed as the authentic product of physical disablement. This study explores Ye’s performance of disability across these two versions of “Through the Wire,” focusing on his engagement with a phenomenon known as the masquerade. Adapted from queer and feminist studies to a disability context by Tobin Siebers, the masquerade encompasses a set of strategies for the public negotiation of disabled identities. Two prominent approaches involve 1) exaggerating a disability through a performative act of disclosure, and 2) disguising one disability behind another. I argue that Ye engages in both strategies throughout “Through the Wire,” and that attending to their roles in the song greatly nuances the straightforward narrative of overcoming that he otherwise projects.

Identity construction among deaf adolescents and young adults: A literature review.

Identity construction is an integral developmental task for adolescents and young adults (AYA). The intersection of deaf identity and disabling hearing loss (DHL) adds a layer to the complex process of identity construction. This literature review highlights the self-ascribed deaf identities of AYA and seeks to understand how AYA with DHL forge these identities. Knowledge areas for prospective research and practice are uncovered. A traditional literature review of qualitative empirical evidence on AYA's accounts of their deaf identity construction was conducted on seminal literature and peer-reviewed journals in psychology, disability studies and deaf studies. The emerging self-ascribed deaf identities of AYA are diverse. The identities include Deaf, hearing, hard-of-hearing (HOH), bicultural HOH, identities that detach from disability, bicultural DeaF, unresolved and fluid identities. Complex trade-offs exist where the construction of certain identities forgoes certain reasonable accommodations, interventions or relations that are critical for personal development and wellbeing. Current literature orients deaf identity formation around hearing status and Deaf-hearing communal dynamics. In-depth research comprising facets of AYA's personal, enacted and relational identities is required to conscientise rehabilitation professionals about the nuances of deaf identity issues and how to develop interventions that are supportive and responsive to the clinical and psychosocial challenges of AYA with DHL. This paper deviates from the d/Deaf identity dichotomy, revealing a spectrum of deaf identities that AYA forge. The rationales of AYA's deaf identities, underlying processes and possible vulnerable identities are unpacked. Recommendations for prospective research pertaining to identity construction among deaf AYA are made.

Disability self-worth and personal meaning relate to psychosocial functioning among employed U.S. adults with LD and ADHD.

Personal disability identity (PDI) refers to disability self-concept and includes various attitudes toward disability. In this study, we examined whether the PDI attitudes of disability self-worth and personal meaning were predictors of psychosocial functioning. Using hierarchical regression to control for sociodemographic and disability characteristics, we examined the unique contributions of these two PDI attitudes to life satisfaction, anxiety/depression, and general self-efficacy in a sample of 1,203 employed U.S. adults with LD and/or ADHD. PDI attitudes (disability self-worth and personal meaning) explained significant additional variance on both outcomes, after accounting for control variables. Results indicated that (a) self-worth (β = -.25, p < .001) and personal meaning (β = -.24, p < .001) were negatively associated with anxiety/depression, (b) self-worth was positively associated with general self-efficacy (β = .31, p < .001), and (c) personal meaning was positively associated with life satisfaction (β = .30, p < .001). Present findings suggest that disability identity is worthy of attention in research on neurodevelopmental disabilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Who Cares?: Ethics and Practices of Care and Making Change in Contemporary Queer Performance Production

Queer performance has historically illuminated an imbalance of care for minoritarian concerns and fostered community connections for collective survival and resistance.1 1. José Esteban Muñoz, Disidentifications: Queers of color and the performance of politics (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1999). This article interweaves theorisations by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and collaborators in the book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice 2 2. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018). and draws upon interviews with key queer cultural producers, practitioners, scholars, and artists currently working in the UK to identify and theorise contemporary ethics and practices of care in their work. It reveals how queer performance practice attempts to address issues of ethnicity, race, class, disability, gender, and gender identity, tokenism and racial representation, access, class, (dis)ability, and trans-inclusivity in generative ways.3 3. Adam Carver, Queering the Sector: Meaningful Change, Meaningful Care, Conference programme, SHOUT! Festival of Queer Arts and Culture, Birmingham Hippodrome, November 8, 2019. Considering the urgent need for material reconfigurations and diversification of the UK arts sector – both in response to and preceding the global COVID-19 pandemic – I argue that an ethics of care and orientation toward action can address ongoing issues around who and what is ‘made to matter’ in queer arts production. Contemporary queer performance praxis in the UK reaches further toward the margins to find new solutions to embed radical care in production practices. As philosopher Rosi Braidotti suggests, such work ‘is enhanced by the rejection of self-centred individualism … [producing] a new way of combining self-interests with the well-being of an enlarged community’.4 4. Rosi Braidotti, The Posthuman (Cambridge: Polity, 2013), 48. Through foregrounding collectivity, community, care, and social justice the queer performance sector is well positioned to be at the forefront of wider cultural production trends, creating, and amplifying change throughout the sector and beyond.

Taking Power, Telling Stories: Using Collaborative Autoethnography to Explore Transitions to Adulthood with and without Disability Identities

This article explores collaborative autoethnography as a research method with emancipatory and unifying potential. We undertake this exploration via our shared stories of transitioning to adulthood through the lenses of identifying as living with and without disabilities. The article offers two important contributions: a deeper understanding of the ways in which disability identities relate to experiences of adulthood; and insights into the ways in which caring and collaborative autoethnographic methods can be applied in lived experience research. We found that adult identities were formed through acts of resistance and transitions to new relationships that exemplified a social relational model of disability. We found that collaborative autoethnography can be a valuable method for lived experience research that challenges power dynamics and subjectivities. A safe space in which researchers balance vulnerability and strengths can bring joy to research, even amidst the sharing of difficult stories.

Self-fashioning Queer/Crip: Stretching and grappling with disability, gender and dress

The convergence of queer studies with disability studies has imagined new possibilities of sexuality, gender and the body, and developed Queer/Crip as a theoretical framework. Queer/Crip scholars map out connections between queer and crip theories by examining how compulsory heterosexuality and compulsory able-bodiedness are entangled in the service of normativity. This article uses a Queer/Crip framework to explore how queer, disabled people use their everyday dress practices to construct their intersectional identities, as well as to stretch and navigate dominant systems of gender, sexuality and disability. Drawing from wardrobe interviews with 40 disability-identified men and masculine non-binary people, we present sartorial biographies of four queer, disabled participants from this larger sample. These participants come from diverse locations of both marginalization and privilege across races, gender identities, classes, disability embodiments and other social positions. Our analysis reveals that queer, disabled participants’ everyday dress practices dismantle dominant systems of gender, disability and fashion. However, participants also grapple with self-fashioning their disabled and queer identities based on the various ways in which they are intersectionally privileged and marginalized. This article contributes to research on queer fashion by demonstrating how applying a Queer/Crip framework and centring disability dress experiences opens-up understandings about queer embodiment and dress.

Performing Normal: Restless Reflections on Music’s Dis/Abling Potential

Abstract This analysis aims to bring disability issues and the realities of systemic ableism to the center of discourse and action related to music therapy and social justice. An account of my evolving understanding of how ableism shaped my relationship with music draws attention to the importance of understanding the subtle yet palpable ways that ableism can invade even the most positive aspects of disabled peoples’ lives and, therefore, contribute in disturbing ways to the perpetuation of normalcy as the human ideal. I begin by providing some essential context to center my activist disability identity and the struggle that underpins the current analysis. I then engage with the performance of normal and explore my discovery of disability as possibility—a discovery that ultimately made space for significant transformation. An explanation of critical disability studies and ableism as important transformative influences follows, and I conclude by articulating some possible implications for music therapy education and training, research, and practice.