This work discusses whether the dominant perceptions of disability in industrial society, as an individual and as a medical problem, is universal. The author links the roots of individualization and medicalization to the rise of capitalism.

An exploration of the relationship between madness, distress and disability, bringing together leading scholars and activists from Europe, North America, Australia and India.

Disability luminary Mike Oliver is joined by Colin Barnes in this agenda-setting response to a capitalist society faced with globalisation, financial instability and lower public expenditure. A timely new edition which reignites the debate on the nature of disability and reasserts the political power of the academic field of disability studies.

*Explores the larger significance of disability in cultural, political, and religious venues * Novel aspects of Christian theological tradition emerge in this light * Highly original and thought-provoking

This powerful book presents a series of perspectives on the process of self-organisation of disabled people which has taken place over the last thirty years. The 1980s saw a transformation in our understanding of the nature of disability, and consequently the kinds of policies and services necessary to ensure the full economic and social integration of disabled people. At the heart of this transformation has been the rise in the number of organisations controlled and run by disabled people themselves. Through a series of interviews with disabled people who have been centrally involved in the rise of the disability movement, the authors present a new collective history which throws light on the politics of the 1980s, and offers insights into future political developments in the 1990s and on into the twenty-first century.

This work discusses whether the dominant perceptions of disability in industrial society, as an individual and as a medical problem, are universal. Using cross-cultural evidence, the author links the roots of individualization and medicalization to the rise of capitalism and considers alternative perceptions of disability and their implications for both political activity and social policy.

A groundbreaking volume from leading scholars exploring disability studies using a political theory approach.