Dana S. Dunn

Dunn, D. S., & Burcaw, S. (2013). Disability identity: Exploring narrative accounts of disability. Rehabilitation Psychology, 58(2), 148–157. 

In this article, Dunn and Burcaw analyze six previously published personal narratives on disability identity development from six individuals with diverse disabilities (e.g., physical disability, learning disability, Deafness, acquired disability, visible disability, invisible disability).  They highlight major themes of positive disability identity development (i.e., communal attachment, affirmation of disability, self-worth, pride, addressing discrimination, personal meaning) that had been previously identified in other work on disability identity development and that are also found in the selected narratives. By relying on first-person narrative accounts of disability, Dunn and Burcaw highlight the critical importance of respecting and valuing the insider perspective on disability—that is, allowing disabled people to tell their own stories and respecting the innate value of that lived experience. Additionally, the article also addresses adjustment to disability via each writer’s experience of disability identity development and discusses the psychosocial assets that the narrative writers developed and honed in the process of developing a positive disability identity in an ableist world. As a whole, these narratives, as well as Dunn and Burcaw’s analysis of them, emphasize that the experience of disability identity development is a true, lived phenomenon in the lives of people with disabilities, not only an academic construct, and reflect many of the foundational principles of Rehabilitation Psychology.

Dana S. Dunn is currently Professor of Psychology and Director of the Learning in Common (LinC) Curriculum at Moravian College. He earned his PhD in experimental social psychology from the University of Virginia, having graduated previously with a BA in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a fellow of American Psychological Association Divisions 2 and 22, and the author of over 100 articles and many books, including several books on the psychosocial and social psychological principles of disability.