I’m living my life as the person I’m meant to be, not in spite of the person I am

In this article we reflect on a recent social worker visit to Laura, and on the social worker’s (unconscious, unthinking, habitual) attempts to impose a personal tragedy narrative upon Laura’s situation. We consider the way in which the affirmation model has made a difference to Laura’s understanding of what was going on, and how it has established a basis for challenging assumptions that would previously have gone unchallenged. While disability is understood in the affirmation model as an oppressive relationship requiring people with impairments to comply with conventional expectations, this vignette provides a real-life, in-action, example of the difference that affirmation model thinking can make in disabled people’s lives.