Tattooed Truths and Therapeutic Maps: Applying Motif Mapping
By Andrew Horman, Our Lady of the Lake University
This manuscript introduces Motif Mapping, a disability-informed counseling modality developed through lived experience, clinical training, and systemic advocacy by Andrew Horman. Integrating narrative therapy, trauma-informed care, strengths-based theory, disability justice, and Internal Family Systems, motif mapping supports symbolic healing and narrative sovereignty. Clients are invited to define and evolve personal motifs—tattoos, metaphors, or visual emblems—as anchors for emotional regulation, identity reconstruction, and systemic resistance.
Designed to accommodate expressive barriers, sensory sensitivities, and mobility-related needs, the modality is especially suited for disabled and neurodivergent individuals. It is adaptable across individual therapy, supervision, curriculum design, and telehealth, with ethical integration of AI tools to enhance access without compromising authorship.
This work is currently being refined for submission to a peer-reviewed journal in counseling and mental health. The DOI above provides a stable reference, and the manuscript will be updated here as new versions or publications become available.
Motif Mapping © 2025 by Andrew Horman is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Invisible Barriers: Therapy Can Reinforce or Resist Ableism
By Andrew Horman, Our Lady of the Lake University
This manuscript explores how therapeutic practices can either unintentionally reinforce ableism or actively resist it—depending on the clinician’s language, assumptions, and approach to disability. Drawing from both professional training and lived experience as a lifelong wheelchair user, Andrew Horman examines how diagnostic bias, disability spread, and systemic invalidation shape the mental health outcomes of disabled clients.
The piece offers trauma-informed strategies for affirming disabled identities in session and documentation, reframing disability as a cultural and systemic experience rather than a deficit. It highlights the psychological toll of being overlooked and calls for inclusive, dignity-centered care that validates disabled clients’ autonomy, resilience, and complexity.
This manuscript is currently under peer-review for publication in a professional counseling journal. A link or full-text version will be made available here once publication or public access is permitted.
