Disenfranchised Grief

Disenfranchised grief, a concept developed by Kenneth Doka, describes the experience of people who 'incur a loss that is not, or cannot be, openly acknowledged, publicly mourned or socially supported'. Because the relationship or loss lies outside what a society recognises as legitimate, mourners are denied the rituals, validation and support that normally accompany grief. Examples include grief after the death of an ex-partner, a pet, a foetus, or - increasingly - an AI companion whose personality has been altered or deleted by a software update. In accessibility and HCI research the concept is useful for naming grief experienced by disabled and neurodivergent users whose relationships with technology or assistive systems are often dismissed as unserious.