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New Voices: Self-Advocacy by People with Disabilities (Please note that this book is no longer available from Amazon.co.uk - Please visit our US Currency Bookstore to purchase this book - Click here to get there!). (1996). Edited by Gunnar Dybwad & Hank Bersani Jr.  To date the most thorough account of the self advocacy movement, "New Voices" covers the US and international self advocacy history, experiences of movement leaders and their support persons, and its legacy.  A chapter by John Hersov on the self advocacy movement in Great Britain is included.

Self Advocacy and Adults with Learning Difficulties. (1993). by Jeannie Sutcliffe, Ken Simons, & National Institute of Adult Continuing Education.

We Can Speak for Ourselves: Self-Advocacy by Mentally Handicapped People. (1982). by Paul Williams & Bonnie Shoultz.  The first historical account of the self advocacy movement, this book looks at its origins; tells the stories of its development in Britain and Nebraska (Project Two), USA with input of the first members there; describes its principles, a self advocacy curriculum, and resources; and, finally, includes numerous personal stories of many people with disabilities who were leaders and the first members of the movement.

Innovations in Advocacy and Empowerment for People with Intellectual Disability.(1998). by Linda Ward.

Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract.  (1998).  by Marta Russell. "Vividly written... goes to the heart of many matters, starting with the profound desire of 'normal' people, many of them supposedly broad-minded types squarely within the liberal tradition, to  reach for the sterilizing knife, or the medicine cabinet of Doctor  Kevorkian when confronted with an affront to their sense of the 'normal.'" (cited from Amazon.com).  Using examples such as these the author critically analyses the so-called reform of the social safety net under which for so many years people with disabilities have been forced to live.

Disability Politics: Understanding Our Past, Changing Our Future. (1996). by Jane Campbell & Mike Oliver.  "Is disability a civil rights issue?"  While accounting the history of the disability rights movement for people with physical disabilities in the UK, the authors also delve into the question of this movement being a civil rights movement, and if so what sort of social movement?  Examples of questions they ask include: is this a new social movement? what is disability consciousness, and is it "a new vision or existing order?"

ABC Clio Companion to the Disability Rights Movement.  (1997). by Fred Pelka.  Although focusing on the US, to date this is the most thorough encyclopedia of the Disability Rights Movement.  Included are descriptions/entries on anything and everything related to the movement from ADAPT, to inclusive education, to the origin of the term "developmental disability."

Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment.(1998). by James I. Charlton. Based on his study of, and interviews with, disability rights movement history and leaders from around the world, Charlton looks from an international perspective at the attitudes of able-bodied people and how these have, and do still, contribute to the oppression of people with disabilities.

Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature.  (1996).  by Rosemarie Garland Thomson.
 
 
 
 

The Body and Physical Difference: Discourses of Disability in the Humanities (The Body, in Theory - Histories of Cultural Materialism).  (1997).  Edited by David T. Mitchell and Sharon Snyder. This edited book starts with a discussion of Disability Studies, as a discipline, and how we study representation of disability (mainly physical disability).  The first half of the book includes studies of past representations, such as, "Constructions of Physical Disability in the Ancient Greek World" (Edwards) and "In Search of Al Schmid: War Hero, Blinded Veteran, Everyman" (Gerber).  The second half deals with modern-day representations, such as, "Disabled Women as Powerful Women in Petry, Morrison,  and Lorde: Revising Black Female Subjectivity" (Garland Thomson), and  Muteness and Mutilation: The Aesthetics of Disability in  Jane Campion's The Piano" (Molina).

The Disability Studies Reader. (1999). Edited by Lennard J. Davis.  This book includes important recent writings about physical disability with an emphasis on those writers working  from a materialist and postmodernist perspective. Experts in cultural studies, literary criticism, sociology, biology, the visual arts, pedagogy, and post-colonial studies, provide the reader with a comprehensive approach to the issue of physical disability.  Contributors include Erving Goffman, Susan Sontag, Michelle Fine, and Susan  Wendell.

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity.  (1963). by Erving Goffman.  Goffman's classic so often cited now in the field of the sociology of disability.  In this book he dicusses how people who have been stigmatized by society -- including people with disabilities -- manage (deal with) their stigma and how "encounters" (meetings) between people with and without social stigmas are often carried out.  Although he does not really consider how stigmatized people turn their stigma into a sign of pride, he does talk about ways inwhich people work to hide a stigma.

Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates.  (1961).  by Erving Goffman.  In this analysis of "total institutions" -- closed worlds such as institutions for people with disabilities, prisons, monastaries, or army training camps -- where the people who live there ("inmates") are unable to leave, Goffman describes how inmates make their lives.  Much of his analysis is based on research he carried out at America's well-known St. Elizabeth's Aslyum.

Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit. (1990). by Robert Bogdan.  "From 1840 until 1940, freak shows by the hundreds crisscrossed the United States ..."  Putting people with disabilities on display for entertainment was considered acceptable at this time.  In this social history Bogdan looks at the life of the freak show and the culture that encouraged it, through the examination of photographsand written materials at the time.

Interpreting Disability - A Qualitative Reader.  (1992).  Edited by Philip M. Ferguson, Dianne L. Ferguson, and Steven J.Taylor.  The first edited book of qualitative interpretive disability studies ever published, this book established the use of this methodology to explore disability and push for the further inclusion of people with disabilities in the community.  Studies used a wide variety of qualitative methodologies including collaborative research, oral history, symbolic interaction, and textual analysis.  Study titles include "Mothers with a Mission," "The Social Construction of Humanness," "The Puzzle of Inclusion," and "Try Harder."

Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language - Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard. (1988). By Nora Groce.  This classic qualitative study uses the methodology of oral history to explore the reasons for the high rate of hereditary deafness among the population of Martha's Vineyard (a small island off the Eastern US coast) and the place of deaf people in town life as undiffernetiated to hearing persons.  The reader will come to appreciate the depth to which disability and people with disabilities are very much socially constuctued as 'disabled.'

Disabled People and Social Policy.  (1998).  By M. J. Oliver and Colin Barnes.  This book accounts key issues of relating to disability through a survey of literature that has emerged in recent years.  Specifically, the authors discuss changes in the way society views disability - from a tragic problem occuring in isolated cases where the appropriate response was medical treatment, to seeing it as a situation of collective institutional discrimination and social oppression to which the only appropriate
response is political action.

The Disability Reader - Social Science Perspectives. (1998).  Edited by Tom Shakespeare.   This book explores the intellectual implications of a disability equality perspective.  Articles look at various issues including the relevance of social theory;  feminist theory and the  body; cultural representations; and employment and education.

Exploring Disability: A Sociological Introduction. (1999). by Colin Barnes, Geof Mercer, & Tom Shakespeare.  This book places Disability Studies within mainstream Sociology -- a field in which it has long been ignored. Chapters cover themes including "understanding disability," "sociological approaches to chronic illness and disability," social policy and disabled people," and "advancing the sociology of disability."

Framed.  (1997).  by Ann Pointon (Editor), Chris Davies (Editor), & Paddy Masefield.   This book looks at the portrayal of people with disabilities in films and television.  Actors with disabilities and producers are asked to talk about the barriers that exist for those who want to work in the film industry and critiques from within the disability arts movement are used to discuss the creation of new images.  Recent films discussed include Skallagrig, Four Weddings and Funeral, and My Left Foot.

Claiming Disability: Knowledge and Identity. (1998). by Simi Linton.  What is this discipline called "Disability Studies?"  Although only a new discipline under this name, in this book Linton explains and lays it out as a field of inquiry.  She writes about how this field differs in its underlying tenets from traditional views of disability, its place in academia, and includes a thoughtful discussion of how to include a disability studies view throughout all disciplines.

Disability and Society: Emerging Issues and Insights (Longman Sociology Series). (1996). Edited by Len Barton.  This book contains pieces considering the social construction of disability within a sociological context.  Chapter titles include: "Sociology and disability: Some emerging issues," "A critique of the role of the traditional charities," and "A sociology of disability or a disablist sociology?"

The Variety of Community Experience - Qualitative Studies of Family and Community Life.  (1995).  Edited by Steven J Taylor, Robert Bogdan, & Zana Lutfiyya.  This collection of qualitative studies looks at life in the community for people with disabilities from the perspectives of people with learning difficulties, their families, and the community.  Specific studies look at how people wth learning difficulties support other persons, parents with disabilities faced with state inspections, mother's work, the positive construction of people with disabilities by family members, a community choir, and gay and lesbian persons with disabilities.

Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: A Guidebook and Resource. (1998). By Steven J. Taylor and Robert Bogdan.  In this considerably revised 3rd edition of their well known qualitative handbook, Taylor and Bogdan expand their explanations of symbolic interaction (interpretivism) to look at the developements in qualitative research in the last ten years.  Written in straightforward language, the authors provide the reader with numerous examples from their own research experience; most of which has been with people with learning difficulties and on community inclusion.

Body, Remember: A Memoir.  (1998).  by Kenny Fries. Noted poet, critic, and essayist is Fries and this book is his memorable memoir of what it is like to live with a body you are told is less than perfect. Born with incompletely formed legs, in his memoir he travels back through his life -- examining medical records, family papers, his own and his parents'  memories -- to  uncover how he became who he is today. Fries's uncovers many details of his early life unspoken within the family, and the discovery of his sexual desire and identity.

Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out.  (1997).  Edited by Kenny Fries. In thiscollection writeers including Andre Dubus, Stanley Elkin, and Adrienne Rich, confront what it  means to be disabled in our society. Using nonfiction, poetry, fiction, and drama, Staring Back examples the disabled experience.

Emergence: Labeled Autistic. (1996). by Temple Grandin & Margaret M. Scariano.  In this book, well known author, Grandin desribes her life growing up with the label of autism.  Starting with her childhood she carries the readers through to her experiences in graduate school and her desigining of the "squeeze machine."

Human Disability and the Service of God: Reassessing Religious Practice. (1998). Edited by Nancy L. Eiesland, & Don E. Saliers. Here, the reader is moved through various aspects of faith communities, predominately of Christian belief, and their relationship with people with disabilities, both historically and at present.  Topics include reinterpreting the healing narratives and that of the blind man, theological reflections on “liberating yourselves by accepting one another,” crosses between disability and church cultures, the perspectives of ordained ministers who have disabilities, and disability and liturgy in African American churches.  A selected bibliography is included at the end of the book.

By Trust Betrayed: Patients, Physicians, and the License to Kill in the Third Reich.  (1995).  by Hugh Gregory Gallagher.  In By Trust Betrayed, Gallager accounts the history of the Nazi euthanasia program that led to the murder of more than 200,000 people with disabilities.  However, not all people in Nazi Germany approved of this supposed mercy killing and ethnic cleansing.  Members of various religious communities and others rose to oppose Hitler's Aktion T-4 systematic program of killing people with disabilities.  This book also tells their stories.

Fdr's Splendid Deception: The Moving Story of  Roosevelt's Massive Disability-And the Intense Efforts to Conceal It from the Public. (1999).  by Hugh Gregory Gallagher.  Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), was the American president from 1933-1945, and man with a disability -- although the later was not known by most people until the last decade.  In this book, Gallagher accounts the enormous work to deceive the America public such that they would not know that their president had a disability (post-Polio) and in fact was unable to walk unassisted.  Here we read more of the whole story of his presidency.

Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Mental Retardation in the United States.(1995). by James W. Trent.  Using public documents, old photos, private letters, and other information, Trent takes us through a journey of how the label 'feeble-minded,' and other labels used since for people with disabilities, came into existance.  Beyond showing the origin of these labels and their supposed scientific validity, he also accounts the horrible abuse, alienation, institutionalization, and neglect people with disabilities suffered on account of these labels.

The Forbidden Experiment: The Story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron.  (1994).  by Roger Shattuck.  This is a more historically focused account of Victor of Averyon then the typical educational accounts.  In this book, the award-winning French historian tells the story of the young boy who did not speak who, in the early 1800's, was found in the woods and his teacher, Itard, all against the backdrop of French society at the time and thoughts on how people acquire language.

The Mismeasure of Man.  (1997). by Stephen Jay Gould.  Intelligence and IQ?  Innate attributes measurable and falling neatly into a Bell Curve?  In this excellent book, Gould debunts the innateness of IQ and the various experiments that were used to creat the notion of IQ (many of which were doctered and racist), at the same time as explaining its various theories.

Abandoned to Their Fate: Social Policy and Practice Toward Severely Retarded People in America, 1820-1920. (1994).  by Philip M. Ferguson.  Based on his doctoral research in this book Ferguson explores through the use of qualitative research the treatment and views of people with learning difficulties in NY state two centuries ago.

Crossing the River: Creating a Conceptual Revolution in Community and Disability. (1992). by David B. Schwartz.  Moving into the community is not the simple answer to ensuring people with disabilities have genuine community connections.  While this book does not provide all the answers it does describe two examples of efforts to support people to build these connections (community associations and citizen advocacy) where disability services have failed.  After this Schwartz describes his ideas for a conceptual revolution that support these connections within the context of community limitations and human services.

Mustn't Grumble. (1994).  Edited by Lois Keith.  This collection of stories and poetry written by women with disabilities (mostly in the UK) provides insight into a wide range of topics from the issues of accessability to abuse and equality.  The authors look at disability in terms of its various social, cultural, and political meanings in additional to personal ones.  Overall, it provides for the reader an account of disability from a woman's perspective in a manner that is moving, educational, humourous at times, and powerful.

Pride Against Prejudice. (1991). Edited by Jenny Morris. A classic in feminist analysis of the experiences of people with disabilities this book explores issues including the pride of disabled persons, abortion, "mercy killings," independent lives, and community care.

Bigger Than the Sky - Disabled Women on Parenting.  (1999). Edited by Michele Wates and Rowen Jade.
 
 
 
 
 

The Sexual Politics of Disability: Untold Desires. (1997). by Tom Shakespeare, Kath Gillespie-Sells, & Dominic Davies.  Based on a qualitative study of people with disabilities in the UK, the authors look at disability and sexuality for people with disabilities.  Themes include, how people with disabilities are seen, and see themselves, with regards to sexuality, personal experiences, and sexual abuse.

Taking History to Heart: The Power of the Past in Building Social Movements.  (2000). by James R. Green. In this brand new book, author Green shows that the study of labor history is as insightful for present-day activists as our history teaches us both the facts and figures about the men, women, and events that came before us, and as it also encourages us to use a powerful philosophy and a hunger for justice that motivated us in the past to the economic and social struggles of the
present.

Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience.  (1986). by Erving Goffman.   The central idea in this book is that anytime people experience anything, we "frame" the experience in terms of a natural frame, which  is sort of "automatic" or a social frame -- frames that result from our past experiences, predispostions, etc.  This theory was used by social movement theorists Benford and Snow as a part-basis for their theory of framing -- the idea that social movement's present (i.e., frame) events and ideas in a manner that best meets the prupose of their movement.

New Social Movements: From Ideology to Identity. (1994). Edited by Enrique Larana, Hank Johnston, & Joseph R. Gusfield.  This is a great starting point for those who want to learn more about social movement theory.  A history of social movement theory is included comparing the theories of collective behavior, resource mobilization, and identity movements.  Then focusing on new social movements, the authors include studies and discussions of everything from the Green movement to the fight against drunk drivers to look at these new movements.

Challenging Codes: Collective Action in the Information Age. (1996). by Alberto Melucci.  Here, Melucci writes of collective action in a manner which both emphasizes the role of culture and makes telling connections with the experience of the people in a postmodern society. His main focus is  the role of information in an age which knows both fragmentation and globalization, while addressing a wide range of contemporary issues, including political conflict and change, feminism, ecology, identity politics, power and inequality.

Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements: Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framings. (1996). Edited by Doug McAdam, John D. McCarthy, & Mayer Zald. Social movements such as environmentalism, feminism, nationalism have resulted in a renewed interst in social movements since the 1960's. This book contains a  collection of essays focusing on mobilization structures and strategies, political opportunities, and cultural framing and ideologies.  Essays consider the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe, the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, and West Germany. Their authors are amongst the leaders in the development of social movement theory and the study of social movements.
 

Because We Can Change the World: A Practical Guide To Building Cooperative, Inclusive Classroom Communities.  (1998).  by Mara Sapon-Shevin.
 
 
 
 
 

Disability, Human Rights and Education. (1999). Edited by Felicity Armstrong and Len Barton.
 
 
 
 
 

Disability and Dilemmas of Education and Justice.  (1996).  Edited by Carol Christensen and Fazal Rizvi.  This book contains a collection of essays that look at issues of educational justice as they relate to people with disabilities.  The authors call the reader to move beyond thinking about education for people with disabilities in terms of difference and equality of access, to thinking about it in terms of the politics of recognition embedded within a framework of rights and empowerment.

Building Cultural Reciprocity With Families: Case Studies in Special Education.  (1999). by Beth Harry, Maya Kalyanpur, and Monimalika Day.

A Teacher's Handbook for Cultural Diversity, Families, and the Special Education System: Communication and Empowerment.  (1997).  by Beth Harry.

Disability and Culture.  (1995).  Edited by Benedicte Ingstad and Susan Reynolds Whyte.  Publication of this research was instigated by the United Nation's International Decade for Disabled Persons and growth in the field of medical anthropology.  Although the editors define disability -- and, thus, who is seen as a person with disability -- using North American and European social constructions of disability and not necessarily those of the cultures studied, this collection of essays does provide insight into how disability in seen in a wide variety of cultural settings (from a longhouse in central Borneo to a community of Turkish immigrants in Stockholm).

Speaking Up and Spelling It Out: Personal Essays on Augmentative and Alternative Communication.  (2000). Edited by Hank A. Bersani and Melanie Fried-Oken.

Disability and the Law

A Case About Amy.  (1996).  by R.C. Smith and Frank G. Bowe.  In this well-written account of the US Supreme Court's first test case of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, formerly PL 94-142), Smith goes beyond the legal story, to Amy and her family's story of their fight to have Amy educated in a regular classroom with the accomodation of a sign language interpreter.  An interesting journey into disability law, Deaf culture, and Amy's life.

1. You're Under Arrest.  (1996).  by Sheila Hollins, Glynis Murphy and Isabel Clare.

2. You're on Trial.  (1996).  by Sheila Hollins, Glynis Murphy and Isabel Clare.

3. Going to Court.  (1994).  by Sheila Hollins, Valerie Sinason and Julie Boniface.  These three booklets use both pictures and text to
show the likely events that take place when a person with learning
disabilities or mental health needs comes into contact with the criminal justice system through arrest, court, or a trial.

Fiction

Skallagrigg. (1988). by William Horwood. (Please go to our UK Version book store to buy this book).  Although this novel and its BBC film were somewhat controversial within the disabled community (see the book Framed above for a discussion), it is is an interesting exploration of institutionalization and disability rights and culture from a fictional standpoint.  The novel's main character, teenager Ester, has lived in a English special education school since her mother died a few years ago.  Now, her father returns to take her home and on a journey to discover the enigmatic Skallagrig, hero of the disablied community.  This book is the story of her journey, which she makes with some of her classmates and her father -- who is only just begining to learn about "crip culture."

Web Able: Making Web Sites Accessible to People with Disabilities. (1999).  by Michael G. Paciello.

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