Passing as Able‐Bodyminded, Disabled, or Supercrip: Rethinking Impression Management Strategies Through a Disability Lens

Abstract

This paper further develops the interactionist notion of passing from a disability studies perspective. Drawing on central disability studies journals' archives in the course of a theoretical PhD project that explores disability studies' theorizing of emotions, passing emerged as one of several issues of emotional relevance in the context of disability—more specifically, as one among several strategic negotiations of feelings in a dis/ableist society. When rethinking passing through the lens of disability, a more nuanced typology emerges; three different ways to negotiate the visibility of one's disability status in order to manage the public impression. I discuss my terminological choices to acknowledge how disabled people strategically negotiate visibility to avoid being made to feel unpleasant in a dis/ableist society.