Everyday Disability Visibility in Peripheral Artery Disease: Insights from Photographic Elicitation Interviews

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 19. Patient Experiences

Abstract

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a progressive chronic vascular condition, that occurs mostly in mid to late life, that limits blood flow to the legs and feet, often resulting in pain, fatigue, and, in advanced cases, potential tissue loss or amputation. While clinicians assess PAD primarily through functional impairment and standardized quality-of-life tools, these measures overlook how mobility constraints are experienced in the context of everyday routines, relationships, and identities. This pilot study introduces the concept of everyday disability visibility: moments when PAD-related bodily limits interrupt ordinary activities, making dependence and decline apparent to self and others, even in private, and without adopting a “disabled” identity.
We conducted photographic elicitation interviews with 43 adults receiving treatment at a Midwest PAD clinic to examine how disability becomes visible at home and in relationships, and how gendered expectations shape interpretation and response. Results show that the home is not only a private space, but a socially scripted site of able-bodied ideals, where PAD becomes undeniable through daily routines and adaptation work. The meaning of mobility is negotiated relationally, with emotional significance tied to participation, reciprocity, and usefulness. Participants engaged in identity work—framing PAD as fixable, reconstructing capability, and defending usefulness. Our findings highlight that PAD-related disability is produced and negotiated in everyday social life rather than defined solely by clinical measures and includes gendered scripts carried across the lifecourse.

Authors

• Mary Byrnes, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

• Heather E. Dillaway, Illinois State University

• Ann Luciano

• Nicholas H. Osborne, University of Michigan Medicine

• Lauren Szczygiel, University of Michigan Medicine

• Max Shpilband, University of Michigan Medicine

• Craig S Brown, University of Michigan Medicine