The Identified Patient and their Illegible Healer: Power, Relationality, and the Erasure of Disability in Therapeutic Training Discourse

As psychology sees itself as a field of and for the people, and in doing so turns to incorporate sociopolitical realities, it aspires to be more inclusive of identities historically underrepresented and excluded from psychological consideration and/or therapist representation. In recent years, psychology has worked to consider cultural competence and intersectionality and, as such, to be inclusive of the disabled; however, whether psychology truly accomplishes this feat is a different matter altogether. Most of the current literature that considers the influence of identity factors in psychotherapy focuses on expanding who the field considers as patients, their material realities, and their sense of safety in treatment. An area that remains less explored is how therapists with physical disabilities are at particular risk for imposition with patients who have dominant identity factors. This article explores how, by overlooking ableism in psychological training programs, a patient with dominant identities contributes to the erasure and objectification of a disabled therapist. A case analysis is detailed to illustrate this occurrence and its broader implications.