Stories of Hyperembodiment: An Analysis of Personal Narratives of and through Physically Disabled Bodies

Abstract

This essay stems from a performance analysis of twenty-six physically disabled professionals' personal narratives: attending to the points when narrators focused their attention on how their bodies shaped their identities, particularly those who struggled with the mixed reactions and understandings of disabled identity. Narrators struggled to perform how atypical flesh, blood, and bone “mattered” in their daily lived experience, grappling with how their living, breathing bodies dictated their personal performances of identity. Narrators’ atypical bodies allowed them to narrate from a position of “hyperembodiment,” illuminating the implications of mortal embodiment that those unmarked by difference potentially ignore.

Keywords:

• Identity
• Embodiment
• Physical Disability
• Personal Narrative
• Performance of Everyday Life

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Kristin Langellier, Dr. Eric Peterson, and Dr. Bruce Henderson for their insight and guidance throughout this project. I would also like to thank Dr. Heidi Rose and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful feedback on previous drafts of this essay.

Notes

1. This essay stems from a larger analysis of twenty-six narrators from across the United States who define themselves as “physically disabled professionals.” Each participant responded to an email that was distributed across professional list-serves. Each audiorecorded interview took place either in person or via webcam. The interviews were open-ended and began with the question, “What does it mean to you to be a physically disabled professional? I am interested in any stories you are willing to share.” Within the interviews (which ranged from forty-five minutes to three hours), all participants deviated from stories that took place in the professional context to explore personal embodied and social experiences associated with disabled embodiment outside the workplace. As a result, the final study includes analyses of professional, private/gender, and embodiment narratives in order to explore the complexities surrounding physically disabled identity. In order to protect narrators professionally and socially, all names have been changed, locations are not disclosed, and in cases where a physical condition could cause the participant to be identified, a medical diagnosis or detailed description of their symptoms is withheld.

2. I did not disclose that I have spastic cerebral palsy in my call for participants, but all participants commented on my atypical gait during the interview. During the interview many participants asked me questions about my experience as a physically disabled professional, questions to which I candidly responded.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julie-Ann Scott

Julie-Ann Scott is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington