Disability is Not Tragic

Part of a series exploring disability, dignity, and the stories society tells about disabled lives

---

The story we’ve been told about disability is wrong.

From childhood stories to nonprofit campaigns, disability is often framed as tragedy — something to overcome, something to fix, something that limits what a life can be.

The more I've paid attention, the more I've seen how this story quietly influences expectations not only about what disabled people can do, but about what kind of lives we are imagined to live. It deeply shapes the way disability is discussed in the media, in programs meant to help, and even in the language of support. When disability is framed primarily as tragedy, it quietly teaches disabled people (and everyone around them) to expect less from disabled lives.

We've missed a vital truth.

Disability is not a tragedy

Disabled lives contain the same range of meaning, creativity, relationships, and purpose as any other human life. The problem is not disability itself — it is the narrow story we have been taught to tell about it. 

In the essays that follow, I want to explore the many places where the tragedy narrative appears — in language, in programs meant to help, and in the stories society tells about disability.

Because when we begin to question that narrative, something important becomes visible:

Disabled lives have never been tragedies. We simply haven’t been taught to view them properly.

A woman high-fives a man using a wheelchair. Underneath, in the frame, are the words "Not a tragedy."