Vol. 16 (2026): Pen, Pencil, and Wilde: Wildean Reconceptions and Rewritings across Time
Miscellanea

Sally Rooney and the Politics of Post-Celtic Tiger Disability Aesthetics: Neurodiversity and Endometriosis as Metaphor

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  • Enrica Zaninotto
Enrica Zaninotto
Università degli Studi di Verona
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/SIJIS-2239-3978-16755

Published 2026-07-29

Keywords

  • Autism,
  • Disability Studies,
  • Neurodiversity,
  • Post-Celtic Tiger Ireland,
  • Sally Rooney

How to Cite

Zaninotto, E. (2026). Sally Rooney and the Politics of Post-Celtic Tiger Disability Aesthetics: Neurodiversity and Endometriosis as Metaphor. Studi Irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies, 16, 147–163. https://doi.org/10.36253/SIJIS-2239-3978-16755

Copyright (c) 2026 Enrica Zaninotto

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This essay surveys the exclusion of neurodiversity from the first wave of Cultural Disability Studies by analysing Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends (2017). It locates the protagonist, Frances, within a feminist disability discourse that reconsiders her disabilities through interdisciplinarity. Frances’ endometriosis is connected to the notion of crisis and linked to post-boom Ireland by remarking its neoliberal traits. The essay likewise accounts for her presumed autism and tackles the issues raised by fictional representations of ASD. A double reading of autism is suggested in the form of C-PTSD. The article concludes by contextualising Frances’ disabilities in relation to both Irish disability tradition and theorised Post-Celtic Tiger disability aesthetics.

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