“Fatal” Diagnosis and Rites of Passage: Self-Representation of Disabled People and Their Statuses in Contemporary Russia

Abstract

Drawn on in-depth interviews with disabled people, their autobiographical texts and life stories, the article examines and discusses the attitudes towards medical diagnoses that determine the status of disability in present-day Russia. I argue that disability is a construct built by “normal” people and that it exists in a certain historical and cultural context, depending also on medical problems and situations of a particular person. Statuses of disabled people in contemporary Russian society are extremely low, and the transition to such a status can be seen as a reversed rite of passage signifying a downward move from the “normal” social state to a much lower one. Thus, medical diagnosis which determines the status of disabled people as a stigmatized group, such as it is in today’s Russia, may be considered the starting phase of this rite.