Disabled Children's Childhood Studies Critical Approaches in a Global Context

This collection centres on the experiences of disabled children and young people and aims to develop theories about their childhoods. The powerful first-hand accounts by disabled children, family members and reflections by disabled adults are aimed to inspire the reader to think and, perhaps, act in positive and productive ways about all children's lives. The authors oppose the historical global imposition of problematic views of disability and childhood and offer open discussion of responsive and ethical research approaches. New ways of thinking about disabled children's childhoods in a global context demand poverty reduction and approaches that support families and communities to recognise the contributions disabled children make.

Tillie Curran is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of the West of England, UK. Her research interests include social work with disabled children and how research is used in practice.
 
Katherine Runswick-Cole is Research Fellow in Disability Studies and Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Her research and publications focus on the lives of disabled children and their families.

PART I: VOICES FOR CREATIVE THEORY, POLICY AND PRACTICE
1. My Story; Stevie, Cath, Colin and Billie Tyrie
2. My Sister Stevie; Billie Tyrie
3. Simply Children; Frejya Haraldsdóttir
4. Thinking Outside Y/our Problem Box: Transitions?; Jo Skitteral
5. Mug or a Teacup and Saucer?; Linda Derbyshire
PART II: CONTEMPORARY INQUIRIES
6. Doing Real World Research with Disabled Children: Issues and Challenges; David Abbott
7. Remembering School in Different Historical Worlds: Changing Patterns of Education in the Lives of Disabled Children and Young People; Sonali Shah
8. Disability and Childhood in Spaces of Poverty: Critical Perspectives on Guatemala; Shaun Grech
9. 'Wearing it all with a smile': Psycho-emotional Disablism in the Lives of Parents of Disabled Children; Katherine Runswick-Cole
PART III: CONTEMPORARY THEORIES
10. Disabled Children's Childhood Studies: Alternative Relations and Forms of Authority; Tillie Curran
11. 'The Spectre of the Norm': Historicising the Notion of the 'Normal Child'; Harriet Cooper
12. Considerations for an African Childhood Disability Studies; Tsitsi Chataika and Judy Mckenzie
13. The Disavowal of Uncanny Disabled Children: Why Non-Disabled People are so Messed Up Around Childhood Disability; Dan Goodley and Rebecca Lawthom
14. Researching Youth in Neoliberal Times: the Importance of Including Disability; Jenny Slater
15. Concluding thoughts; Katherine Runswick-Cole and Tillie Curran