Disability as Dissent: Reimagining Hierarchies through Susan Nussbaum's Good Kings, Bad Kings

Abstract Susan Nussbaum’s Good Kings, Bad Kings presents a compelling narrative that critiques the systemic marginalisation of persons with disabilities (PwDs) within institutional settings. This paper examines the novel as a literary work that challenges dominant social hierarchies through its portrayal of the lives of youth in an Illinois nursing home for disabled residents. Rather than presenting disability through a medicalised or purely diagnostic lens, Nussbaum foregrounds the social and political conditions that shape the characters’ lives. By centering the perspectives of disabled characters — each with unique voices, personalities and forms of resistance — the novel disrupts traditional hierarchies of power and knowledge, including those between caregivers and residents, administrators and staff and society at large and disabled individuals. Through its polyphonic narrative structure, Good Kings, Bad Kings enables a collective critique of institutional neglect, exploitation and paternalism. It becomes clear that the challenges the characters face are not solely rooted in their impairments but in the structures designed to manage and contain them. As such, the novel functions not only as a mirror reflecting the realities of social exclusion but also as a call to reimagine community, agency and justice for PwDs. This paper argues that literature like Nussbaum’s can play a vital role in shifting public perceptions of disability and empowering marginalised voices by offering an alternative to reductive and oppressive narratives. In examining how Good Kings, Bad Kings critiques the medical model and calls for a more socially conscious understanding of disability, this paper highlights the novel’s role in advancing disability justice. It ultimately suggests that literature can serve as both a site of resistance and a catalyst for social transformation. Keywords: Disability Justice, Hierarchies, Medical Model of Disability, Institutional Critique, Empowerment through Resistance