Introduction

The intersection of disability and mass media is resonating as a crucial topic in the modern world, against the backdrop of a vast expansion of research and publications on disability across many scholarly disciplines. Media is key to this overdue emergence of disability as central to academic research. Media and communication directly affect the lives of the approximately 15–20 percent of the world’s population who live with disability. In this introduction, we discuss the emergence of disability and media as a dynamic and exciting area of contemporary research, theory, practice and debate. Against this sketch of the field, we provide the context and user guide for this timely Companion to Disability and Media and its contributions.