When is a man not a man? When he's disabled

Walter Benjamin apparently said that people write books because they are unable to find existing books with which they are completely happy. That certainly explains this chapter, because in years of researching disability I have only ever read one article concerning disabled men. Given that we are a substantial minority—perhaps 5 per cent of the population (approximately equivalent to the proportion of lesbians and gays or of black people in Britain)—this is surprising, not to say unfortunate. I hope this fact will enable the reader to condone the superficiality of the discussion: there’s a lot to talk about, not much space, and even less research evidence.