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WORLD ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNION

CONGRESS 2024​

Paper

Navigating Romantic Relationships with Invisible Disabilities in Makhanda

presenters

    Vanessa Melato

    Nationality: South Africa

    Residence: South Africa

    Rhodes University

    Presence:Online

The research investigates the experiences of how individuals in Makhanda navigate romantic relationships while managing invisible disabilities. The paradigm that will be used is an interpretivism framework, and the theories used are the Critical Disability Theory and the Social Model Theory. Disabilities can be found everywhere in the world, and there are currently more than one billion people worldwide living with visible and invisible disabilities. People with disabilities are often expected not to engage in romantic relationships due to their disabilities, which is not the case as they also engage in romantic relationships as their abled counterparts. Anthropologists have depicted that disability is an ingenious way to live, as disabled people have lives too and can be involved in different types of relationships identical to abled people. Romantic relationships are a complex system of emotions, communication, and understanding. It becomes a significant challenge in romantic relationships if one or both partners have an invisible disability. Due to their intangible nature, it is common to find invisible disabilities such as mental health issues, chronic diseases, or sensory impairments presenting significant challenges to the development of romantic relationships. Adopting an anthropological perspective, I examine the norms, challenges, coping mechanisms, and interpersonal interactions of people facing the invisible disability in romantic relationships, whether they are the ones with the invisible disabilities or their partners. A qualitative research approach, using semi-structured interviews, was utilised in the study.

Keywords:

invisible disabilities, romantic relationships, relationship dynamics, emotional support.