Vol. 7, Issue 1, Part C (2025)

This paper aims to investigate the medicalization of disability in the novel, Ancient Promises by Jaishree Misra. The novel portrays the journey of a woman, who liberates herself from being an apprehensive woman to a self-assured one. The novel Ancient Promises by Jaishree Misra is a semi-autobiographical work. It is the story of a young woman, Janu, and her struggles in marriage, motherhood, and divorce. The sight of disability is subtly displayed through the character of Janu's daughter, Riya, who has mental disability since birth. Riya, who is born with a mental disability becomes the centre for the development of Janu's character which foregrounds one of the most common attributes of charity model of disability Studies. The portrayal of disability becomes problematic when it is “medicalized" by the characters in the novel, including Janu. As the charity model of disability is an off-shoot of the Medical Model of disability, this paper is an attempt to showcase how the medicalization of disability is subconsciously embedded in the novel and it leads to the charity approach.