To buy or get any further information about the books please click on either the title or picture of the book.

New Voices: Self-Advocacy by People with Disabilities.(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.

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.

The Self-Advocacy Movement by People with Developmental Disabilities: A Demographic Study and Directory of Self-Advocacy Groups in the United States. (1993). by Nancy Anne Longhurst.  This is Longhurt's official report of a survey study she carried out to look at the US self advocacy movement, in terms of its growth, membership, meeting locations, and activities. Also included is a list of self advocacy organizations contacted.

Beliefs,Values and Principles of Self-Advocacy. (1997). by Barb Goode with contributions of Ake Johansson.  Here, Goode -- first president of one of the first People First (PF) groups in Canada, co-founder of PF of Canada, and first recipient of the Rosemary Dybwad Award, and Johansson -- former president of the Swedish national organization, reflect on self advocacy.

Count Us in: Growing Up with Down Syndrome. (1994). by Jason Kingsley, Mitchell Levitz, & Andy Bricky.  Based on over 50 conversations with Kingsley and Levitz, two young men proud to have Down syndrome, talk about their successful lives as people with disabilities.  Seeing life with a disability as being about "a half-full glass," not one that is "half-empty," they discuss their views on friendship, sex, marriage, politics, independence, their beliefs, among other topics.
 

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."

No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement. (1994). by Joseph P. Shapiro.  Written by the respected Washington Post journalist Shapiro, this book accounts the history of the Disability Rights Movement -- by themes rather than just dates -- until the 1990 signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in a most readable style.  Chapter titles include "You Just Don't Understand," "Tiny Tim's, Supercrips, and the End of Pity," and "The Screaming Neon Wheelchair."  A short chapter on People First, based on interviews with TJ Monroe, is also included.

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.

The Ragged Edge: The Disability Experience from the Pages of the First Fifteen Years of The Disability Rag. (1994). Edited by Barrett Shaw.  A celebration of the 15 years publication anniversary of Ragged Edge, one the two key disability rights grass-roots magazines, this collection contains pieces that have appeared over the years.  Authors include Mary Jane Owen, Cheryl Marie Wade, Anne Finger, Carol Gill, and Billy Golfus.

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.  Th