Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Spanish and Portuguese

This dissertation explores Spanish autobiographies in the form graphic narratives, together with my own autobiography. It addresses mental and physical health in three Spanish graphic novels through two queer autobiographies, Roberta Marrero's 2016 El bebe verde (The Green Baby, 2016) and Juan Naranjo's 2020 Mariquita (Sissy, 2020), and a “special needs' parents' memoir” entitled Una posibilidad (A Chance, 2016). While chapter 1 addresses the authors' experiences during childhood through early adulthood to come to terms with the incapacitating heteronormative ideal, chapter 2 tackles the difficulties in understanding and sharing the perspective of a three-year-old with a cognitive disability such as cerebral palsy. Eventually, my autobiography pays attention to, on the one hand, gender and sexuality, and illness and disability, on the other. As I approach my gender and sexual identities, I explore how these intersect with different diagnoses, including, but not limited to, depression and Cystic Fibrosis in COVID-19 times. This dissertation shows the importance of understanding how society influences how people identify themselves, in addition to proving that there is an expectation of being cis and heterosexual (Rich), and able-bodied (Ruer). In the analysis of these visual and verbal representations of gender, sexuality, and disability, as well as in the autobiography, I demonstrate that these given situations are worsened through the incapacitating society that rejects queer and disabled populations. As I address many instances of repudiation, I can exemplify how these lived experiences are dismissed and aggravated.

Committee: Eugenia Romero (Advisor); Jorge Pérez (Committee Member); Ana del Sarto (Committee Member); Laura Podalsky (Advisor) Subjects: European Studies; Foreign Language; Gender Studies; Literature; Mental Health