Theorising disability lies at the heart of many recent social scientific engagements with the body, subjectivity, culture and society. Disability studies have developed across, through and with disciplines of the social sciences and humanities. The extent to which disability illuminates and puts into practice social theory and, moreover, the potential of social theory to add to our understandings of disability are key themes of this book. This text aims to further examine social theory and disability as resources for thought, action and activism.

Social theories of disability have been around for decades, with more critical approaches emerging around 40 years ago. The awareness of disability theory continues to lag behind that of other transformative arenas such as feminism, queer theory and postcolonialism. To some degree, disability theory has not had the sweep and global interest of these other areas due to the stigma that disability still carries, despite years of legislation and struggle. It still is not fashionable to be disabled. As a consequence, disability politics have been virtually ignored not only by dominant institutions of society but also by other politicised arenas. The disabled people’s movement, while now global in scale and reach, continues to push for some of the most basic rights to education, life and health. At the time of writing,