Disability as Identity: Emotional Politics and Social Construction in John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars

John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars offers a deep exploration of disability, illness, and the strong desire for identity within the changing terrain of disability studies. Set in a world of teenage life affected by serious health issues, the story follows Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters as they face big questions, deal with loss, and value their relationships. Green shows characters living with the long-term effects of cancer not as helpless victims but as complex individuals with their own choices and dreams. The story challenges the romantic view of illness and questions common beliefs that ignore or stereotype disabled people. Through Hazel and Augustus’s emotional connection, the novel explores the challenges of disabled youth dealing with love, grief, and lasting impact. This study looks at The Fault in Our Stars through the lens of disability studies, discussing how John Green recognizes disability as part of identity instead of a limitation. This analysis relies on three main theoretical ideas: Susan Sontag’s discussion of illness metaphors, Sara Ahmed's theory on emotions and their flow, and the social model of disability, which sees disability as caused by social barriers rather than individual flaws.