To mark Disability History Month in the UK, we’ve collated a reading list from our books and journals that engage with ideas and narratives of disability, particularly our leading journal, The Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, and our acclaimed book series, Representations: Health, Disability, Culture and Society. Browse the reading list below and enjoy free access to selected disability studies journal articles across the next month.
Mad Fictions: Psychiatry, Disability and the Politics of Mental Distress in African Literature by Femi Eromosele
Mad Fictions is the first book to place African literature in conversation with mad studies and disability studies, offering a groundbreaking reassessment of how madness is represented in African fiction. Challenging dominant readings that reduce madness to a metaphor for collective suffering, Femi Eromosele insists that it is both a site of personal distress and a locus for social justice discourse. The Ebook is also available to libraries exclusively as part of the JSTOR Path to Open initiative.
HIV/AIDS and the Stage: Politics and Performance in Neoliberal Times by Louisa Hann
HIV/AIDS and the Stage examines the political and pedagogical role of the stage in the history of HIV/AIDS advocacy and activism in the Global North. Drawing on cultural materialist and Western Marxist traditions, it examines the extent to the rise of neoliberalism has impacted the HIV/AIDS genre’s political potential.
A history of disability in England: From the medieval period to the present day by Simon Jarrett
This thousand-year history of people with disabilities in English society ranges from the surprisingly integrated societies of the medieval and early modern periods to the institutionalisation of the 19th and 20th centuries. This book holds important lessons for modern society as it professes to seek ‘inclusion’. Published in partnership with Historic England.
The following journal articles have also been made Free to Read throughout November and December to celebrate Disability History Month 2025:
‘Gesture, Dance, and Learning Disability‘ by Margaret Ames
‘On Being Disabled‘ by Michael Marsh
‘(Love)Sick, disabled, and dying‘ by Olivia Glaze
‘The Vanishing Invalid: Visual Representations of Disabled Veterans in Interwar Romania‘ by Maria Bucur
‘Challenging disabled access in the built environment: an evaluation of evidence from the United Kingdom‘ by Rob Imrie
‘“Nobody’s ever held the door open and invited women, Black people or disabled people in”: confronting discrimination in Marie NDiaye’s theater‘ by Clare Finburgh Delijani
‘Thinking Capitalism from the Bedroom: The Politics of Location and the Uses of (Feminist, Queer, Crip) Theory‘ by Yves Rees
From University of Michigan Press
The Corporealities: Discourses of Disability series from University of Michigan Press critically examines how definitions of disability are socially and institutionally constructed, illuminating the ways such discourses shape and regulate concepts of normalcy, embodiment, citizenship, and moral subjectivity throughout history. Find out more >
Call for proposals – Representations: Health, Disability, Culture and Society
This book series provides a ground-breaking and innovative selection of titles that showcase new interdisciplinary research on cultural representations of health and embodiment. It includes works on disability, illness, ageing, sexuality, gender, race, affect, care, technology, and the body as spectacle, and engages with a rich variety of cultural forms including films, novels, comics, medical texts and public exhibitions.
Proposals are warmly invited for the series; please contact commissioning editor Alison Welsby (a.welsby@liverpool.ac.uk) with a Proposal Submission Form.
Why publish with Liverpool University Press?
Liverpool University Press excels at publishing thought-provoking and engaging research that challenges and contributes to knowledge and debates. Winning the Bookseller Industry Award and IPG Award for Academic Publisher of the Year, we are an innovative publisher who combines a distinguished history of over 120 years with a forward-thinking mindset. Whether you are starting out on your academic career or you are an experienced author with numerous publications, our team will look after you and your work.
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