Ablenationalism and the Ablenationalist Politics of Disability in Neoliberal Societies:Cripping Empowermentality Embedded in Therapeutic Citizenship

This paper examines the emergence of ablenationalism as a contemporary biopolitical phenomenon at the intersection of disability politics, nationalist projects, and neoliberal governance. Drawing on Mitchell and Snyder’s theoretical framework and building upon Puar’s concept of homonationalism, the analysis reveals how modern nation-states selectively incorporate certain forms of disability while maintaining ableist power structures through what I term ”empowermentality”—a form of governance operating through therapeutic citizenship demands. The paper demonstrates how neoliberal market logic transforms bodies into ”fractured terrains” subject to endless optimisation, creating new hierarchies of inclusion based on one’s capacity for rehabilitation and productive contribution. Through critical analysis of comfort industries, positive psychology, and therapeutic intervention regimes, the study illuminates how disability becomes commodified and marketised under neoliberal governance. The paper also examines emerging forms of resistance through cripping practices and queer/disability coalitions that challenge normative assumptions about embodiment and create alternative value systems. The analysis contributes to critical disability studies by revealing how ablenationalism operates as a sophisticated form of biopolitical control while highlighting possibilities for collective resistance that moves beyond individual empowerment to challenge the foundations of neoliberal ability-based citizenship. These findings have significant implications for understanding contemporary disability politics and imagining alternative futures that embrace bodily diversity without requiring conformity to ableist norms, i.e. establishing a counter position emphasising “depathologisation”.