From Loss to Gain? Identity Trajectories of People with Acquired Communication Disabilities

Abstract

This article examines the identity trajectories of people who acquired communication disabilities, arguing that their transition from a non-disabled identity to a disabled one is deeply shaped by societal ableism, dominant narratives of tragedy, and the limited scope of traditional speech-language therapy practices. Although social models of disability have entered clinical discourse, intervention remains often focused on correcting impairments and normative communication. Drawing from critical disability studies, including affirmative models of disability, crip futuralities, and concepts such as crip doulaing and disability or deaf gain, this article reflects on how people with acquired communication disabilities could navigate identity disruption, loss, and renegotiation. The paper argues that exposure to positive disabled experiences, communities, and narratives can serve as a transformative counterweight to dominant deficit-based understandings of acquired communication disability and an ableist society, offering newly disabled individuals alternative and desirable futures. The notion of disabled gain, inspired by deaf studies concept deaf gain, is proposed as a potentially valuable framework for reimagining communication disability beyond loss. Ultimately, this reflection calls for a deeper exploration of how people with acquired communication disabilities develop affirmative identities, particularly through connections with disability communities and artistic practices.