Unique outcomes and
the overcoming trap.
Does my preferred story have to be one where I get better?
How to look for moments that don’t fit a dominant story without turning them into a story of overcoming disability.
What this is: a guide to unique outcomes and preferred stories with disabled people.
Why it matters: preferred stories can drift into “overcoming” plots that quietly mean becoming less disabled.
The sharpest reframe: a unique outcome is about values, not improvement.
One thing to take away: rest, asking for help and saying no can all be unique outcomes.
The short version
In narrative therapy, a unique outcome is a moment that doesn’t fit the dominant problem story. Developing these moments helps build a preferred story. For disabled people, there is a trap: the preferred story can slide into an overcoming plot, where the good moments are the ones that look less disabled. A disability-informed approach looks for moments that reflect what the person values, which might include resting, asking for help, or refusing to perform. On fluctuating conditions, flare days shouldn’t become the “problem story” by default.
You might recognise this
Illustrative statementsDrawn together from common experiences. They are not quotes from individual people.
What a unique outcome is
Established practiceUnique outcomes are events that the dominant story would not predict: a time the person stood up to the problem, acted on a value, or was seen differently. Narrative therapists ask about these in detail, then link them to identity: what does this say about what you care about? Over time, they can thicken into a preferred story.
A useful question is not “what disproves the negative story?” but “What becomes visible here that the familiar account leaves out?” A unique outcome is a starting point for exploration, not proof the problem has gone, and it should never be used to erase discrimination or invalidate distress.
The overcoming trap
Our frameworkDisabled people are surrounded by overcoming stories: the athlete who triumphs, the patient who beats the odds. The activist Stella Young challenged “inspiration” stories that turn ordinary disabled lives into lessons for non-disabled people. Arthur Frank’s research on illness stories describes the restitution story, in which the good ending is cure. If a therapist only notices moments that look like coping, achievement or recovery, the preferred story can become one of those plots without anyone choosing it.
Siobhán is 40 and has long COVID. Her therapist had been noticing every time she “pushed through”. One week she said she had stayed in bed, cancelled a family event and felt calm about it. The therapist almost moved on. Instead they asked: “What does it say about you that you could choose that, and feel calm?” Siobhán said: “That I’m starting to believe my body.”
Siobhán is a fictional teaching example, not a real person.
Values, not improvement
PracticeUnique outcomes for disabled people might include:
- Resting without guilt.
- Asking for help directly.
- Saying no to a cure narrative, a treatment, or someone’s pity.
- Using a mobility aid in public for the first time.
- Enjoying something without explaining one’s body.
- Joining disabled community.
- Telling a professional they were wrong.
A useful question can be: does this moment have significance you want to explore, or is it enough to recognise what happened? Sometimes a rest is just a rest, and enjoyment is just enjoyment. Not every moment needs to reveal a value.
Wanting change is allowed too. Rejecting compulsory overcoming shouldn’t become a rule against wanting recovery, treatment or physical progress. If those are the person’s own chosen goals, they belong in the preferred story.
Good days and bad days
With a fluctuating condition, it’s tempting to treat good days as the preferred story and flare days as the problem coming back. But a flare isn’t a failure of the preferred story. The preferred story can include how someone looks after themselves on bad days, who they turn to, and what they refuse to believe about themselves when they’re unwell.
What needs attention here?
The person brings an achievement
Possible focus: what it says about their values, in their words
What to avoid: framing it as overcoming disability
The person brings a rest, a refusal or a flare
Possible focus: what it shows about what they care about
What to avoid: treating it as a setback by default
The person rejects a hopeful story
Possible focus: being heard in where they are
What to avoid: hurrying towards a better ending
Possible starting points, agreed with the person, not rules.
How you’d know it helped
- The person recognises their preferred story as theirs, not an inspiration plot.
- Bad days no longer automatically mean “going backwards”.
- Rest and asking for help don’t need to count as achievements to be justified.
Words you can use
For clientsQuestions worth carrying, as a therapist
Therapist Reflection- Which moments do I get most interested in?
- Do I notice rest and refusal as much as achievement?
- Have I treated flare days as the problem story?
- Is the preferred story the client’s, or one I find inspiring?
Evidence & sources
Sources checked in October 2026, using targeted searches rather than a systematic review. “We have not located” means our searches did not find it.
Unique outcomes and re-authoring: White, M., Maps of Narrative Practice (Norton, 2007).
Restitution, chaos and quest narratives: Frank, A. W., The Wounded Storyteller (University of Chicago Press, 1995).
Stella Young, “I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much” (TEDxSydney, 2014). TED
The overcoming trap, the list of value-based unique outcomes and the guidance on fluctuating conditions are this site’s synthesis.
Siobhán is constructed for learning. She is not a real person.
We have not located research on how unique outcomes are identified in narrative therapy with disabled clients.
How to cite this page: Donaghey, C. (2026). Unique Outcomes and the Overcoming Trap. Disability in Psychotherapy. Available at: https://disabilityinpsychotherapy.online/what-is-psychotherapy/narrative-therapy/unique-outcomes-and-the-overcoming-trap/ (Accessed: [date]).
Shared under CC BY-NC 4.0, with an extra permission to teach from it on fee-paying courses. Credit the site. See Reusing This Material.