Deficiency and Atypical Motherhood: Capacitism as a social marker

Abstract

Narrating one’s own existence constitutes an act of displacement and re-signification, fostering processes of awareness shaped by social, historical, and subjective dimensions. This article is based on the narrative of a woman, mother of a teenager with a deficiency, to discuss the implications of capacitism on motherhood and the modes of resistance that emerge in the discursive construction of these experiences. By recognizing the epistemic value of singular experiences in their social dimension, narrative is understood as a device for the production of knowledge, situated at the interface between the individual and the collective. The analysis is grounded in theoretical frameworks that articulate narrative, subjectivity, and social critique. The narratives were written specifically for this research, with the author’s identity preserved, and appear throughout the text in the form of epigraphs, followed by critical analysis. The discussion is organized into three axes: atypical motherhood as an experience marked by invisibility and resistance; deficiency as a social construct sustained by normative standards of body and mind; and the urgency of an ethics of care that acknowledges human interdependence and collectively distributes the responsibility of care. By valuing these narratives, we aim to contribute to the denaturalization of capacitism and to broaden the debate on care, atypical motherhood, and social justice.