Paras Sharma

https://doi.org/10.64823/ijepp.2601004

Men living with invisible disabilities in India navigate a compounded set of pressures: the internal burden of an unacknowledged impairment alongside external demands of a patriarchal social order premised on bodily invulnerability and economic productivity. This qualitative study draws on Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) of in-depth interviews with five cisgender men, aged 25–32, living with invisible disabilities, including neurodevelopmental conditions, autoimmune illness, and musculoskeletal conditions; in urban India. Five themes were identified: (1) The Diagnostic Journey and Medical Interactions; (2) Masculinity and Social Identity; (3) Productivity and Capitalist Expectations; (4) Masking and Adaptations; and (5) Support Systems and Relationships. Findings indicate that medical gaslighting, gendered pain bias, and late misdiagnosis are common experiences, and that masculine norms significantly delay both diagnosis-seeking and help-seeking. Participants also described active, deliberate rejection of hegemonic masculine norms, a process this paper terms counter-hegemonic resistance; as a response to the lived inadequacy of those norms in the face of chronic illness and neurodivergence. Implications for clinical practice, workplace policy, and mental health service design are discussed with reference to the specific Indian socio-cultural context.