In the shadow of threatening norms: How students with visual impairment contest and reproduce institutional positions

This article focuses on semi-narrative guided interviews with students with visual impairment (VI) who attend a state-approved special school for students with VI at the time of the interview, although they had different previous experiences in both segregated and inclusive schools. We are conducting a qualitative analysis from the perspective of teenagers concerning how they negotiate institutional ascriptions of (dis)abilities. We have selected interview sequences of two young people: (a) Kai: self-confidence and internalized self-doubt and (b) Felix: between fighting and claiming ableist divides. Our analyses reveal the different ways of how Kai and Felix each contest the ableist divide they constantly have to cope with. Kai does so by sticking to her self-concept and ambitious life plans; Felix does so by ridiculing how the institution ascribes neediness to students.