Studying Critical Disability: A Transformative and Inclusive Agenda for Social Change – Introduction

Disability studies has grown as an emerging discipline since the 1980s across mainstream disciplines in academic, which has influenced policy processes at global and local levels. The chapters of this section present both personal and political experiences of the authors who have engaged in critical dialogues in their profession, which has generated a credible shift in co-creating disability-inclusive curricula in higher education institutions involving persons with disabilities teaching and researching with academics, and students, some of whom have experienced barriers to equal opportunities due to their impairments themselves; the complexity of the social determinants of disability that have entrenched inequalities and discrimination experienced by persons with disabilities and their families, within their communities and wider society; and the stereotypical views of disability that are challenged by using intersectionality as a lens to explore the axes of privileges and power in their different academic disciplines, so that we dismantle systemic structures that cause inequalities in access to health, education, and economic development so there is sustained social change.