Feeling Disability in Neoliberal Times: Cruel Optimism and Failure

Abstract

The article promotes an anti-ableist critique of the affective composition of disability in the context of neoliberalism. In this sense, it seeks to shift the narrative of cruel and inspirational optimism circulating in the lifestyles of people with Down syndrome, towards the incipient emotional reorientation of failure as a radical sensitivity that unmasks the emotional capitalism of positive thinking.