Is ‘different’ still unacceptable? Exploring the experience of mobility disability within the Romanian social and built environment

This study investigates how people with mobility impairments experience disability and inclusion/exclusion, how they construct their identities, and how they challenge disabling social constructions within the Romanian post-socialist context. Phenomenological analysis performed on the transcripts of 11 semi-structured interviews revealed five major themes: feeling different; reframing normality; perceived as a ‘different regnum’; confined by physical barriers; and ghosts of the past and desires for the future. Participants’ experiences highlight the pressing need for medical–productivist understandings of disability to be challenged at a social, individual, and institutional level, emphasizing the role of people with disabilities in promoting such social changes.