The object of the following discussion is the literary depiction of a minority group comprising children and young adults with disabilities. We propose an interpretation of two stories from Oceania: Just an ordinary kid (1988) by New Zealander Lisa Vasil and Je suis née morte (2012) by Tahitian Nathalie Heirani Salmon-Hudry. The two narratives reflect how the widespread Western medical model of disability works, and how it is hard to reconcile it with Oceanian relationality ontologies. We argue that the presence of the medical/individual model rooted in capitalist and expansionist principles gives rise to the internal narrative tension that Vasil and Salmon-Hudry’s stories create and are not able to resolve. This article starts with a summary of the three main theoretical models of disability. We then show the stratigraphy created by the fluctuating meanings in the two stories being studied. In particular, the semantic layer introduced through diegesis and discourse, interspersed with references to the Pacific region’s traditional values, destabilises the meaning created by the narrated story which, in turn, is dominated by the Western medical model of disability. We conclude by drawing parallels with the ethics of care, which provides a multi-disciplinary perspective with a focus on vulnerability, the inter-dependence of beings and phenomena, and interest in maintaining relationships.