Strategic Self-Determination Within Constraints

Sor Juana navigated strict institutional constraints—she could not leave the convent, could not marry, had limited public voice—yet within these boundaries, she made strategic choices that maximized her autonomy and intellectual freedom. This is not the neoliberal fantasy of unlimited individual choice, but realistic navigation of constraint. For disabled people, strategic self-determination means making authentic choices within material realities of disability and inaccessible systems. It means not waiting for a perfect accessible world to live fully, but making decisions that honor both limitations and agency. A disabled person might choose part-time work not as failure but as sustainable choice given energy constraints. They might use assistive technology, request accommodations, or modify activities—these are strategic self-determinations, not surrenders. Sor Juana's example shows that real people exercise genuine agency within real constraints. Disability identity includes this capacity for strategic choice-making. Justice does not require erasing limitations but creating space where disabled people decide how to live within actual conditions, not imagined unlimited ones.