The Pragmatics of Disability Self-Ascriptions

Disability self-ascriptions could be treated as descriptive claims: assertions that one satisfies the conditions for counting as disabled. This article focuses on a different function that such ascriptions can serve. Drawing on Quill Kukla and Mark Lance’s account of gender ascriptions, we argue that first-person disability ascriptions often function as speech acts that position the speaker within social space. More precisely, we argue that self-ascribing disability can serve as a request or demand that the speaker not be held to certain capability norms, or norms about what people are expected to be able to do. Not only that, but these self-ascriptions often also serve as demands for access, specifically access to what the speakers need in order to manifest valued capabilities. We use this account to explain three common sources of ambivalence that individuals experience around claiming disability.