Reading disability in Keller’ The story of my life (1903) and Palacio’ Wonder (2012)
| dc.contributor.author | Bouhamidi Dehbia | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-12-01T10:04:01Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-12-01T10:04:01Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025 | |
| dc.description | 59p. ; (+CD-Rom) | |
| dc.description.abstract | This research has explored the issue of disability in Keller’s The story of my life (2017) and Palacio’s Wonder (2012), focusing on the personal struggles and social responses that shape the lived experience of the protagonists. The dissertation has investigated the complex relationship between the individual and society by revealing how impairments are not only medical conditions but also socially constructed identities. In the first chapter, I have examined the “medical model” of disability, analyzing how Helen’s deafblindness and August’s facial deformity are framed through diagnosis, treatment, and the search for normalization. This chapter highlights how both protagonists are shaped by medical authority, family intervention, and internalized expectations of “cure,” reflecting the limitations of seeing disability purely as a physical defect. In the second chapter, I have focused on the “social model” of disability, particularly how Helen and August are marginalized, excluded and rejected because of societal attitudes. This analysis sheds light on the way social barriers such as prejudice, exclusion, and stigma play a significant role in shaping the challenges faced by disabled individuals. Throughout this research, I have borrowed my methodology primarily from Tobin Siebers’ theory of disability and Peter Burke’s sociological analysis of family dynamics. Additionally, I have incorporated critical references to Michel Foucault and Talcott Parsons to enhance my understanding of medicalization and deviance. This study has reached with the following findings. First, both Helen’s and August’s experiences reflect how the medical model can isolate individuals and reduce them to their impairments, as they are considered mere objects of medical intervention and correction. Second, both works illustrate the social model of disability, showing that exclusion and discrimination often arise not from the impairment itself, but from external societal factors. Thus, this study offers a new comparative perspective on how disability is constructed, resisted and redefined in literature across historical and cultural contexts. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Literature and Civilization | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://dspace.ummto.dz/handle/ummto/29257 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou | |
| dc.subject | Deafblindness | |
| dc.subject | disability | |
| dc.subject | facial deformity | |
| dc.subject | marginalization | |
| dc.subject | normalization | |
| dc.title | Reading disability in Keller’ The story of my life (1903) and Palacio’ Wonder (2012) | |
| dc.type | Thesis |