The Story of My Work: How I Became Disabled
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson
About The Story of My Work: How I Became Disabled
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is one of the leading voices in disability studies—a field that explores how disability is not just a medical condition, but also a social, cultural, and political experience. In this deeply personal and reflective essay, Garland-Thomson doesn’t just talk about disability—she tells the story of how she came to understand herself as disabled in a world that constantly defines disability in limiting or negative ways.
But here’s the twist: she wasn’t “born disabled” in the way society often expects. Instead, her experience of becoming disabled unfolded gradually—through her scholarly work, relationships, and growing awareness of how social structures shape identity. She shows how identity isn’t always something you’re just handed at birth—it’s something that evolves through experience, reflection, and engagement with the world.
This piece is as much about self-discovery as it is about disability. Garland-Thomson shares how her early academic training didn’t prepare her to see disability as a cultural identity. It was through engaging with feminist theory, activism, and the voices of other disabled people that she began to see herself as part of a broader community—and as someone who could help reshape the conversation around disability and justice.
Importantly, she challenges the idea that disability is always a deficit or a tragedy. Instead, she frames it as a source of knowledge, perspective, and power—a way of seeing the world differently and imagining more inclusive futures.
Before You Read
What makes you you? Is it something fixed—like your body, your background, your abilities? Or is it something that can shift and expand over time, as you learn more about yourself and the world?
In this autobiographical essay, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson reflects on how she came to identify as a disabled person—not through a single moment, but through a journey of questioning, learning, and connecting. She asks us to think about disability not as something that happens to someone, but as a meaningful identity shaped by culture, language, and relationships.
Before diving in, think about how society defines “normal” and how those definitions affect people’s sense of self. Who gets to say what counts as a “whole” or “complete” person? And what happens when we start listening to voices that challenge those assumptions?
Guiding Questions
- How does Garland-Thomson describe the process of “becoming” disabled?
- In what ways does her identity shift through engagement with disability studies and feminist theory?
- How does this essay challenge traditional views of disability and identity?
- What does this piece teach us about how the self is shaped by social and cultural structures?
Where to find this reading
This work is under copyright. You can access and read it online at the following link:
- The Story of my work: How I became Disabled : https://dsq-sds.org/article/id/70/
