The Global Flourishing Study (Johnson, et al., 2024) was hailed as one of the most ambitious undertakings in modern social science. Over 207,000 participants, 22 countries, six core domains of wellbeing — all aimed at answering one timeless question: What contributes to a life well-lived?

The study’s reach is extraordinary. It measures happiness, health, purpose, virtue, relationships, and financial stability across 23 diverse countries. It’s a milestone in the growing global movement to understand human flourishing.

And yet, amid all the precision and scale, one absence is striking. Not once does the study mention disability, neurodiversity, or accessibility.

For a study designed to map the full topography of the human experience, that silence speaks volumes. Because disability — physical, intellectual, cognitive, or sensory — is not an outlier in the human story. It is part of the human condition.

The Global Flourishing Study defines flourishing as “the relative attainment of a state in which all aspects of a person’s life are good.” It’s an elegant definition, but one that raises a critical question: Whose life are we talking about?

If our frameworks for wellbeing are built without considering how disability shapes experience, access, and opportunity, then our understanding of flourishing risks being incomplete — or worse, exclusionary.

Disability inclusion is not a marginal concern of healthcare or education policy. It is a profound test of how societies define and distribute wellbeing. And, as growing........

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