ABSTRACT
The way we see, speak, and think about disability – in real life, and in fictionalised representations of real life in the arts, the media, and popular entertainment – defines disabled identities, which in turn defines disabled people’s access to agency, authority, and power in society. In this Introduction, we want to review historic and contemporary studies in disability arts, culture, and media studies, identify current challenges in the field, and set the scene for the chapters engaging these topics to come in this collection. Most critically, we want to highlight the benefits an understanding of this field – and the practical, philosophical, and at times provocative diversity of approaches, aesthetics, and politics discussed in this collection – can bring, not just for scholars of arts, culture, and media but for scholars across education, social services, science, health, and medicine, as they think about the way the rights of disabled people are reflected or not reflected in their own systems, institutions, and discourses.
