ABSTRACT
Research is a topic of increasing significance within disability studies, and this is reflected in articles published in Disability and Society. Over the years, the importance of widening the diversity of disability research practice, especially in relation to the activist agendas of disabled people themselves, has raised challenging issues. New, and frequently contested, understandings of the nature and purpose of research have been of paramount importance. From this fundamental concern, a series of connected issues can be identified, including: the position of disabled people in relation to the planning, implementation and dissemination of research; the disabling nature of particular aspects of research practices; the position and responsibilities of researchers; the issue of power in terms of the social relations of research practices; and the voices of disabled people and their central significance as the focus of research. What the articles in this section of the book demonstrate is how far these and other challenges have been seriously engaged with, but most importantly, the extent of the work that still needs to be undertaken.
