Moving with “invisible” disability, Sentient bodies of women with visceral deficiencies in Chilean Patagonia

Abstract

This research presents the results of an qualitative study an ethnographic design, to comprehensively approach the mobility experiences of a group of women with various medical diagnoses in Chilean Patagonia, by the way, experiences embedded in more complex frames of social life such as the disability. Through mobile ethnographies and interviews, we were able to observe their mobility practices emphasizing the sensations and meanings of these, mediated by bodies that carry a disability. The results suggest that these women with visceral disabilities practice “differentiated” mobility characterized by slowness, body discomfort, fear, loss of spatial orientation, in some cases the "avoidance" of displacements. In addition to deploying strategies to overcome obstacles to move and recognition. Also emphasizing the fatigue and social suffering of invisible bodies that are "thrown" into public space