Living on Wheels: An Ethnographic Account of Disability, Sanctuary, and Kinship in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic study of disability in the Dominican Republic, and also a personal story as the main character is my father who suffered a severe accident and was consequently paralyzed. Based on insights from the anthropology of disability, analysis of disability policies, as well as an in-depth ethnographic engagement with my father, this thesis explores navigation, an insolent public, and the formulation of care in a Dominican city. As such, I examine the normal and the abnormal, structural violence and stigma, a broken health care system, and new kinship imaginaries from the perspective of “a disabled man” in the Dominican Republic. I first analyze how my father is categorized as abnormal and stigmatized, in a city whose urban infrastructure is inaccessible to differently abled bodies. Then I show how my father found sanctuary in his home and car from a society that does not respect the differently abled, often referring to them as invalid. Finally, I focus on his support system and network of friends and family, who fill the void left by a lack of mental health services in a broken healthcare system. Overall, this ethnography hopes to provide a deeper understanding of how differently abled people claim their lives and agency within various political, social, and medical systems that invalidate the disabled body.