“In many Western spaces, good grief is quiet, tame, dry, and controlled. It does not make a scene, it does not scream at the attending physician, and it does not soil its pants in shock. It does not sweat, race, wail, smash, or howl. It does not tell the truth about itself, it does not argue or say no to help. It does not resist pathology or naming, it does not resist ‘expert’ information or referral [… .] Good grief is gendered, staged, linear, white, and bound by privilege and reason.Good grief is productive, never interfering with the business, the family, or the community. It is graceful and always grateful for expert intervention. It is not angry or selfish. It never goes public [… .] Quite simply, good grief never breaks open the bone. But we are not interested in good grief.”
— Jennifer M. Poole and Jennifer Ward. “ ‘Breaking Open the Bone’: Storying, Sanism, and Mad Grief.” from Mad Matters: A Critical Reader in Canadian Mad Studies
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