The tragedy of promising happiness through overcoming disability

Olivia Dahl and Merete Monrad

Social Science & Medicine, 2025, vol. 367, issue C

Abstract: This article explores the often-overlooked tragedy of promising happiness through overcoming disability. It draws on qualitative interviews and focus groups with 36 adults with cerebral palsy to explore how medical discourse shapes the ways in which individuals are encouraged to pursue a good life, leading to unintended consequences. Sara Ahmed's theory of happiness is used to understand the dialectics of pursuing a good life through overcoming disability, revealing how medical interventions and discourse during childhood inadvertently contribute to feelings of inferiority and social alienation. The article highlights the need to reconsider how individuals with disabilities are encouraged to pursue a good life, emphasizing the paradox of disabling effects arising from attempts to minimize and overcome disability.

Keywords: Quality of life; Cerebral palsy; Disability; Medical interventions; Embodiment; Happiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:367:y:2025:i:c:s027795362500098x

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117769

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