LGBTQ+ People with Chronic Illness

Drawing on theory and empirical research, this book provides an analysis of the intersections between LGBTQ+ identification and chronic illness. Chapters focus on the theoretical meaning of chronic illness as a queer notion, as well as the lived experiences of chronically ill LGBTQ+ people. The author analyzes chronic illness as an experience that interrogates the normative notions of time, (in)visibility, and disability. Interweaving notions of heteronormativity and able-bodiedness as interwoven and mutually dependent, this book argues that the experience of chronic illness through LGBTQ+ embodiment presents the potential to imagine bodies differently.

This book will be useful for scholars and students in Disability Studies, Queer Studies, and Gender Studies.

“This book brings us closer to its emergence by cripping and queering both temporalities and methodologies, and it does so in an informative and sensitive manner. … LGBTQ+ People With Chronic Illness is perhaps the paint on that crutch, something that does not directly solve the problem, but relieves the pain that comes with it. It is a gift to research, rendering any future work … .” (Christina Maraboutaki, European Journal of Women’s Studies, November 15, 2023)


“Pieri’s book is exemplary in demonstrating how social scientific data collection can be guided by critical theory and principles. Her engagement with both crip studies and queer theory aids in building disciplinary connections, and as such, facilitates valuable scholarly dialogue to further add to crip-queer theorizations. Her book serves as an exciting contribution to both crip and queer theory, and encourages scholars toconsider the potential for a politicized chroniqueer identity in the future.” (Emily Mendelson, The Polyphony, thepolyphony.org, April 28, 2023)



“Mari Pieri successfully delivers an informative and humanising tone throughout the entire work. … In all, Mari Pieri successfully compiles shared experience across different countries and gives a much needed platform for LGBTQ+ people with chronic illness to be heard. She both manages to give cultural context and present similarities in voices across different backgrounds to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions that remain pervasive across Western society today.” (Sophie Litherland, Inclusive Research Collective, inclusiverc.com, January 31, 2023) “This book is a vital addition to the burgeoning research literature on LGBTQ+ people and disability, and to sexuality and gender identity studies more broadly. It presents the first sociological study of its kind to examine chronic illnesses that LGBTQ+ people live with and make sense of in their lives. Beautifully written, accessible and thoroughly engaging, this book invites us all to recognize that disabling chronic illnesses can often be invisible to us as gender and sexuality, too, can, or highlighted as too visible when compared to a hetero- and gender-normative world built upon productive time. This book asks us to consider who is deemed productive and non-productive and how this impacts our sense of LGBTQ+ people with chronic illnesses who may (have to) do time differently. The book is brimming with innovative theories and methods and some truly insightful findings.” (Zowie Davy, Associate Professor in LGBTQI Researchat De Montfort University, UK)

Mara Pieri is a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal, and holds a PhD in 'Human Rights in Contemporary Societies.' She works on critical disabilities studies and queer studies, and her research interests include supercrips; medicalisation; chronic illness and invisible disabilities; accessibility; sexualities in Southern Europe; and LGBTQ+ health.