Critical Autoethnography and Disability

This chapter, Critical Autoethnography and Disability: Situating Myself as a Disabled Researcher, explores my evolving relationship with disability through the intersecting lenses of athlete, non-disabled athlete, wheelchair dependency, and invisible disability. Drawing on critical autoethnography, I position my lived experience as both subject and method, using personal narrative to interrogate broader social structures, institutional practices, and theoretical assumptions about disability. Central to this chapter is the introduction of the “Zecca Diverse Model,” a framework that integrates embodiment, intersectionality, and systemic critique to conceptualize disability holistically. The model functions as both a theoretical advancement and a practical tool, guiding reflective, iterative engagement between personal experience and scholarly analysis. By situating my journey within contexts of higher education, professional identity, age, and sexuality, I examine how overlapping systems of power shape inclusion and marginalization. This chapter demonstrates how combining critical autoethnography with the Diverse Model transforms research into a form of resistance by challenging ableist norms, amplifying disabled voices, and reimagining more equitable and inclusive academic and social spaces. Ultimately, it argues for disability research grounded in lived experience, reflexivity, and systemic critique.