Cruel optimism and ableist assumptions: Ableist discourse, the ‘good’ mother and autism
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Drawing upon Berlant's concept of ‘cruel optimism’, we examine the narrative of the website Generation Rescue and its president, Jenny McCarthy. We argue that the form of motherhood put forward, the medicalised warrior mother, is an ableist figure, and we examine ableism through the lens of cruel optimism. For the warrior mother, medical discourse sets the standard for the child, and discourses of motherhood set the standard for the mother. We contend that the simultaneous production of these discourses intersect to enable the production and subjectification of the warrior mother. This intersection is ableist discourse. Although framed as ‘good’ mothering, the version of motherhood presented is cruel to the mother and cruel to the child. The narrative offered presents the autism-free child as the child the committed mother desires and deserves; it also presents the autism-free child as obtainable. This attachment to possibility embeds mothers in a never-ending form of intensive motherhood, her the agent of recovery who cannot accept the child she has and her child the object of continual experimentation that can be normalised via commitment and consumption.
Source: Neurodiversity
Authors: Karen Williams, Duncan Murray
Institution: University of South Australia
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid:
OpenAlex ID: W4403372942