Not forgetting happiness: The tripartite model of disability and its application in literary criticism

This interdisciplinary article draws on the social sciences to posit a tripartite model from which literary research into disability can benefit. Ableism and disablism are defined by normative positivisms and non-normative negativisms respectively, but consideration is also given to non-normative positivisms. Informed by experiential knowledge, the model is illustrated with reference to a trilogy of literary representations of blindness: George Sava’s novel Happiness is blind (1987), Brian Friel’s play Molly Sweeney (1994), and Stephen Kuusisto’s memoir Eavesdropping (2006). The result is a complex reading that recognises problems but also non-normative renderings of happiness