`This remarkable book is unlike any other I have reviewed, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, at 700 pages and with 34 chapters, the sheer scale of the collection is vast. The editors state that the book is not definitive, but represents a creative work in progress. However, the collection certainly provides a unique insight into the current debates and issues which frame disability studies, combining a variety of different backgrounds and a diverse range of experiences, and this manifests in the way that the chapters range across academic disciplines. Consequently, the book is aimed at a wide audience including disabled people, practitioners, academics and those involved in forming social welfare policies′Medical Sociology News

The Handbook of Disability Studies answers the need expressed by the disability community for a thought-provoking, interdisciplinary, international examination of the vibrant field of disability studies. Drawing on the insights of disability scholars from around the world and the creative advice of an international editorial board, the Handbook signals the emergence of a vital new area of scholarship, social policy and activism.

This path-breaking international handbook of disability studies signals the emergence of a vital new area of scholarship, social policy and activism. Drawing on the insights of disability scholars around the world and the creative advice of an international editorial board, the book engages the reader in the critical issues and debates framing disability studies and places them in an historical and cultural context. Five years in the making, this one volume summarizes the ongoing discourse ranging across continents and traditional academic disciplines. To provide insight and perspective, the volume is divided into three sections: The shaping of disability studies as a field; experiencing disability; and, disability in context. Each section, written by world class figures, consists of original chapters designed to map the field and explore the key conceptual, theoretical, methodological, practice and policy issues that constitute the field. Each chapter provides a critical review of an area, positions and literature and an agenda for future research and practice. The handbook answers the need expressed by the disability community for a thought provoking, interdisciplinary, international examination of the vibrant field of disability studies. The book will be of interest to disabled people, scholars, policy makers and activists alike. The book aims to define the existing field, stimulate future debate, encourage respectful discourse between different interest groups and move the field a step forward.

Introduction: The Formation of Disability Studies - Gary L Albrecht, Katherine D Seelman, and Michael Bury
PART ONE: THE SHAPING OF DISABILITIES STUDIES AS A FIELD
An Institutional History of Disability - David L Braddock and Susan Parish
Counting Disability - Glenn T Fujiura and Violet Rutkowski-Kmitta
Disability Definitions, Models, Classification Schemes and Applications - Barbara Altman
Theorizing Disability - Gareth Williams
Methodological Paradigms That Shape Disability Research - Scott Campbell Brown
Disability - Patrick Fougeyrollas and Line Beauregard
An Interactive Person-Environment Social Creation
Representation and Its Discontents - David T Mitchell and Sharon L Snyder
The Uneasy Home of Disability in Literature and Film
Philosophical Issues in the Definition and Social Response to Disability - David Wasserman
Disability and the Sociology of the Body - Bryan S Turner
Intellectual DisabilitiesQuo Vadis? - Trevor R Parmenter
Disability, Bioethics and Human Rights - Adrienne Asch
Disability Studies and Electronic Networking - Ellen Liberti Blasiotti, John D Westbrook, and Iwao Kobayashi
PART TWO: EXPERIENCING DISABILITY
Divided Understandings - Carol Gill
The Social Experience of Disability
Mapping the Family - Philip M Ferguson
Disability Studies and the Exploration of Parental Response to Disability
Disability and Community - Michael P Kelly
A Sociological Approach
Welfare States and Disabled People - Robert F Drake
Advocacy and Political Action - Sharon Barnartt, Kay Schrinerm and Richard Scotch
Health Care Professionals and Their Attitudes Towards, and Decisions Affecting Disabled People - Ian Basnett
The Role of Social Networks in the Lives of Persons with Disabilities - Bernice A Pescosolido
Inclusion/Exclusion - Jean-François Ravaud and Henri-Jacques Stiker
An Analysis of Historical and Cultural Meanings
PART THREE: DISABILITY IN CONTEXT
Disability Culture - Colin Barnes and Geoff Mercer
Assimilation or Inclusion?
Identity Politics, Disability and Culture - Lennard J Davis
Making the Difference - Tom Shakespeare and Nick Watson
Disability, Politics, and Recognition
Disability Human Rights, Law and Policy - Jerome E Bickenbach
The Political Economy of the Disability Marketplace - Gary L Albrecht and Michael Bury
Disability and Health Policy - Gerben DeJong and Ian Basnett
The Role of Markets in the Delivery of Health Services
Disability Benefit Programs - Bonnie O′Day and Monroe Berkowitz
Can We Improve the Return to Work Record?
A Disability Studies Perspective on Employment Issues and Policies for Disabled People - Kay Schriner
An International View
Science and Technology Policy - Katherine D Seelman
Is Disability a Missing Factor?
Disability, Education and Inclusion - Len Barton and Felicity Armstrong
Cross-Cultural Issues and Dilemmas
Support Systems - Simi Litvak and Alexandra Enders
The Interface Between Individuals and Environments
The Relationship between Disabled People and Health and Welfare Professionals - Sally French and John Swain
Public Health Trends in Disability - Don Lollar
Past, Present, and Future
Disability in the Developing World - Benedicte Ingstad