Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Sara Haden

Committee Chair and Members

Sara Haden, Chair

Lisa Samstag

Elizabeth Kudadjie-Gyamfi

Keywords

Ableism, Defenses, Disability identity, False self, Government austerity, Medicaid

Abstract

Disabled individuals face rampant discrimination in the form of ableist microaggressions (Kattari, 2019) and healthcare neglect (Komisar et al., 2005; Power & Bartlett, 2019), yet research on the impact of ableism on well-being is lacking. Watermeyer (2012) posits that disabled people employ necessary defensive strategies to cope with the reality of such oppressive confounds, such as Winnicott’s False Self (1960)—the artificial persona one consciously or unconsciously employs to protect oneself from social rejection. However, in the only study known to the researcher that assesses the role of the False Self within the disability community, Eichengreen & Hoofien (2017) explore discriminatory experiences that could contribute to developing the False Self without directly naming them as ableist microaggressions. Therefore, the present study examined whether there is an optimal level of the False Self that can aid in well-being in the lives of disabled individuals experiencing ableist microaggressions and navigating their identity as a disabled individual within the disability community. Results from the sample of 329 disabled individuals who rely on Medicaid-funded disability services indicated that higher levels of the False Self produce significantly better well-being outcomes when an individual experiencing frequent ableist microaggressions does not have a strong disability identity. In contrast, the False Self had a significant and negative impact on well-being when an individual experiences a strong disability identity and high levels of ableist microaggressions. This implies that the False Self is only adaptive when one is not living in a social environment where they can integrate disability into their self-concept and experience peer support of the disability community. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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