Undoing Normal: Performatively Decomposing Compulsory Able-Bodiedness

This article investigates how individuals with disabilities performatively seek to challenge able-bodied compulsion in a Danish welfare state context. The article builds on qualitative interviews and focus groups with individuals living with cerebral palsy. Employing the theoretical framework of compulsory able-bodiedness, as formulated by Robert McRuer (2004; 2006), the analysis centers on how individuals with CP seek to ‘decompose’ able-bodied norms through performative acts. Performative acts come to terms as 1) signaling worth and competence, 2) taking up space, 3) humor, 4) emotion management, and 5) building self-affirmation. The article discusses the lonesome, demanding, and invisible work that disabled people undertake daily in their everyday lives to navigate social encounters. It underscores that while individuals with CP challenge the dominance of compulsory able-bodiedness and envision alternative futures, progress depends on broader societal efforts to recognize and affirm disability as a vital component of social life.