‘We are all disabled’: one British Pakistani man’s struggle navigating his hybrid identities
Published on 12 May, 2025.
The case study of Alex that we explore in this paper broadens our knowledge about the notions of ethnicity and disability and their interplay for one British Pakistani man with a diagnosis of epilepsy and his everyday life in Britain. This paper presents indicative findings and qualitative insights based on lived experience, which is particularly valuable for identity-related research. We offer a review of the existing literature around disability, ethnicity, hybrid identity, and South Asian perception of disability and impairment. We provide a note on methodology, including a case study design and thematic analysis, together with participant demographic details. The paper contributes to contemporary debates about how South Asian men with a disability construct new forms of identity and belonging in Britain. A qualitative case study of a selfidentifying British Pakistani man, who has a diagnosis of epilepsy, sought to understand how he formulated identity and employed differing practices in navigating belonging in relation to his ethnicity/migrant background on the one hand and his disability/ chronic illness on the other. The findings indicate that the intersectionality of ethnicity and disability, racism, and ableism constitutes truly nuanced forms of othering and a ‘hybrid identity’.