Normalcy, Stigma, and the Social Production of Disability: A Critical Reading of Unbroken

Abstract

The representation of disability in Nandhika Nambi’s Unbroken offers a powerful critique of the social, cultural, and institutional forces that construct disability as a condition of exclusion and marginality. Rather than locating disability in the protagonist’s impaired body, the novel foregrounds the pervasive impact ofenvironmental barriers, normative expectations, and attitudinal prejudices that regulate her movement, identity, and emotional life. Through Akriti’s encounters with inaccessible infrastructure, intrusive gazes, unsolicited sympathy, and infantilising behaviour, the narrative exposes the mechanisms by which society transforms impairment into disability. Drawing upon theoretical perspectives that interrogate the authority of normalcy, the labelling of bodies, and the operation of stigma, this study examines how the novel reveals disability as a socially produced phenomenon. Akriti’s emotional experiences—ranging from anger and frustration to withdrawal and self-assertion—are deeply entwined with the social environments she navigates, demonstrating the psychological weight of ableist structures. Yet the narrative also highlights moments of agency and resistance, suggesting the possibility of reclaiming autonomy when spaces, relationships, and technologies accommodate difference. By situating Unbroken within the framework of the social model of disability, this research argues that the novel challenges reductive cultural narratives and offers a nuanced portrayal of disabled experience. The analysis underscores the need to rethink normative assumptions that marginalise disabled individuals and emphasises literature’s capacity to illuminate the lived realities of disability in contemporary society.