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This paper explores the link between the social visibility of bodily stigma, the ensuing question of invisibility as a result of the interiorisation of the shame generated, the power relations this triggers and the possibility of essentialisation in cases of physical handicap. Might we argue that bodily defects or flaws are an objective reality that stigmatisation only serves to highlight? The approach adopted here is conceptual in nature and is rooted in fundamental texts produced by handicapped writers, along with ten years of research carried out with these authors. We will shed light on the ethical importance of anti-naturalist positions which deny the essential nature of stigma, without forasmuch minimising the psychological consequences of social stigmatisation.