MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

In her introduction to the edited collection Disability in Science Fiction, Kathryn Allen states that science fiction “has long explored deviant and disabled bodies” (2). Disability studies, however, is concerned not only with bodies which look and function outside the norms of a given society but also with “deviant and disabled” minds. While some scholars have explored representations of autism and intellectual disabilities in futuristic settings, Veronica Roth’s Divergent series centers on an example of neurodivergence that emerges out of the futuristic setting itself. The ways in which Tris Prior’s brain works differently than her peers are only remarkable in a society which uses serums to enforce conformity to a rigid faction system. In this paper, I will demonstrate how different models of disability help us develop a rich understanding of how the divergent mind is portrayed and discussed at various points in the series. At first, Tris’ aptitude for multiple factions and ability to be awake during simulations is something she must learn to control and hide, much like the medical model of disability focuses on curing or normalizing an individual so that that person can take part in society as it exists. Over time, however, we come to see that it is not Tris herself who is the problem but rather a faction system that does not allow for the ways in which her mind interacts with the world. This perspective echoes the social model of disability which draws attention to the ways in which the environment disables an individual; it is the environment—and not the individual—that must be changed. The books’ eventual appreciation for neurodiversity as a sign of difference rather than as a problem encourages the reader to interact with the wide variety of human experience in our own world in a similar way.