disempowering

Adjective

disempowering (comparative more disempowering, superlative most disempowering)

1. Causing a loss of power or agency; debilitating.
   • On the contrary, Bernstein argues, by presenting a benevolent face to students while failing to change the underlying rules of pedagogic discourse, progressive pedagogies may be potentially more disempowering for students because they mask the workings of oppression and hence make it harder for...2009, Michael O'Loughlin, The Subject of Childhood, page 225
   • Usually the story that they want is about this privileged group of people who have moved into a poor neighborhood and are doing all this great work for the neighborhood. And that can be very disempowering to our neighbors who have lived and survived and who are caring for each other.2009, Christopher J. Keller, Andrew Shutes-David, Remembering the Future
2. Demoralizing.
   • Losing the ability to work was very disempowering.2013, Lani Russell, Sociology for Health Professionals, page 82
   • Pain becomes a constant companion when we live in this low level of vibration as we create more and more disempowering stories.2013, Eleni Contzonis, Light My Candle: The Flame Within