DAN GOODLEY draws on two decades of research and writing and weaves personal stories, scholarly literature, social media and other cultural narratives together with concepts from the interdisciplinary field of disability studies. His argument is simple: disability invites great insight into the wider project of understanding the human condition. Goodley argues that the study of disability is of great importance in its own right but also has much to offer us all in considering what it means...

What if disability isn′t a problem but a resource? This updated edition of a classic text in the field of disability studies interrogates the commonly held view that disability is something that needs to be ′cured′ or ′eradicated′. It shows us how disability can challenge our thinking and help us to imagine a more socially just society, offering an engaging introduction to a diverse and globally expanding subject. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this text will be of interest to under...

In this ground-breaking new work, Dan Goodley makes the case for a novel, distinct, intellectual, and political project – dis/ability studies – an orientation that might encourage us to think again about the phenomena of disability and ability.Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary areas, including sociology, psychology, education, policy and cultural studies, this much needed text takes the most topical and important issues in critical disability theory, and pushes them into new ...

Passionate, engaging and challenging, this second edition of the ground-breaking Disability Studies: An Interdisciplinary Introduction is a contemporary introduction to this diverse and complex field.Taking an interdisciplinary and critical approach, the book*:*examines a diverse range of theories and perspectives and engages with current debates in the fieldexplores key areas of analysis, with chapters devoted to the individual, society, co...

Leave it to a dog to put the “human” back in “humanities”In September 2020, Rod Michalko wrote to friend and colleague Dan Goodley, congratulating him on the release of his latest book, Disability and Other Human Questions. Joking that his late guide dog, Smokie, had taken offense to the suggestion that disability was purely a human question, Michalko shared a few thoughts on behalf of his dog. When Goodley wrote back—to Smokie—so began an epistolic exchan...

Disability is not just the physical, sensory or intellectual impairments a person has, but the exclusion from society they face as a result. Organisations for disabled people are a growing voice in challenging this exclusion and anti-discrimination legislation is helping to change the structures in society that have contributed to it.This book examines the discipline of psychology in this regard. It argues that psychology has tended to ignore the socio-cultural aspects of disabilit...

This co-authored text critically explores the key findings of the Living Life to the Fullest project – a project that has explored the lives, thoughts, hopes and aspirations of disabled young people living with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. Written by disabled young people and academic researchers, the book articulates ethical co-production in social research.The prolific contemporary political and theoretical debates about life, death and the human in an age of gl...

In September 2020, Rod Michalko wrote to friend and colleague Dan Goodley, congratulating him on the release of his latest book, Disability and Other Human Questions. Joking that his late guide dog, Smokie, had taken offense to the suggestion that disability was purely a human question, Michalko shared a few thoughts on behalf of his dog. When Goodley wrote back—to Smokie—so began an epistolic exchange that would continue for the next seven months.As the COVID-19 pandemic ...

This textbook for advanced and post graduate students sets out the contexts of children's and young people’s lives and encourages students to explore their complexities and contexts.This new edition has been substantially updated to discuss and analyse new topics and issues that have emerged over the last ten years, including:• developments in the way that children and young people’s lives have been theorised and understood;• their engagement in all aspects of conte...

Challenging existing approaches to autism that limit, and sometimes damage, the individuals who attract and receive the label, this book questions the lazy prejudices and assumptions that can surround autism as a diagnosis in the 21st Century.Arguing that autism can only be understood through examining 'it' as a socially or culturally produced phenomenon, the authors offer a critique of the medical model that has produced a perpetually marginalising approach to autism, and explain ...

Researching Life Stories critically and pragmatically reflects upon the use of life stories in social and educational research. Using four life stories as examples, the authors apply four different, practical approaches to demonstrate effective research and analysis.As well as examining in detail the four life stories around which the book is written, areas covered include:* Method and methodology in life story research* Analysis* Reflections on analyse...

This book centres and explores postcolonial theory, which looks at issues of power, economics, politics, religion and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial supremacy. It argues that disability is a constitutive material presence in many postcolonial societies and that progressive disability politics arise from postcolonial concerns. By drawing these two subjects together, this handbook challenges oppression, voicelessness, stereotyping, undermining, neo-colonisation a...