By Carli Friedman, CQL Director of Research
Social well-being reflects the strength of one’s connections to other people as well as how integral one is in one’s community. This chapter focuses on the social well-being of disabled people, first situating social well-being in context by focusing on the immense disparities in social isolation and loneliness of disabled people and then discussing the various forms of relationships that improve the social well-being of disabled people. While doing so, the chapter focuses on both the positive impacts of social well-being on disabled people and barriers that need to be removed to maximize the social well-being of disabled people. Although positive psychology spotlights the positive, the chapter suggests this double focus is necessary given that these barriers, which are often environmental and systemic, are the very obstacles hindering disabled people’s social well-being. However, rather than attempting to remedy these disparities by simply fitting disabled people into existing structures, as the chapter later describes, lessons can be learned from disabled people about how to disrupt norms through flourishing disability communities.
This abstract is a summary of the following book chapter: Friedman, C. (2026). Social well-being and friendship. In E. E. Andrews-Ash, K. B. Ayers, D. S. Dunn & M. L. Wehmeyer (eds) The Oxford handbook of positive psychology and disability (2nd edition; pp. 97-108). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197749760.013.0007
Social Well-Being and Friendship: Book Chapter