Facing the Stranger in the Mirror in Illness, Disability, and Physical Decline

Abstract

“Facing the Stranger in the Mirror in Illness, Disability, and Physical Decline” draws on studies of illness and disability to illuminate the embodied experiences of older women who are socially shamed and devalued because they are chronically ill or disabled or physically infirm. If women experience shame because they inhabit bodies visibly marked by the signs of age, they experience even more shame in this era of successful or healthy aging if they suffer from the chronic illnesses or functional limitations or physical disabilities that are part of the natural aging process. As this chapter focuses on older women’s embodied experiences of the disabling conditions or chronic illnesses that accompany aging, it covers both fictional and nonfiction post-1960 works by women authors, including Mary Felstiner, Jackie Stacey, Jo Spence, Christina Middlebrook, Susan Gubar, Nancy Mairs, Thea Astley, May Sarton, Margaret Laurence, Doris Lessing, and Pat Barker.