Disability Diagnosis in the Perinatal Period: The Devastating Power of Biomedical Discourse Abstract

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of a complex diagnosis in childhood from the perspective of the dominant biomedical model. It argues that diagnosis is not a neutral act, but rather a social practice that produces meanings, organizes expectations, and hierarchizes ways of understanding the body, illness, and disability. Through a family narrative, it shows how the communication of diagnosis can generate lasting subjective effects, including distress, mourning for the loss of the idealized child, and the perception of asymmetrical power relations. The paper also discusses the role of the Humanized Diagnosis Law in Argentina, which seeks to shift the focus from the individual condition of the child to the symbolic, discursive, and institutional barriers that shape the diagnostic experience, promoting a more critical and humanized understanding of medical care in contexts of childhood complexity.