ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book outlines how, through collective action by disabled academics, they can question the assumptions within university policy and managerial practices which reproduce ableist dynamics within the academy. It provides a context in which Nancy Hansen sees the gradual shifting of established patterns and practices toward disabled academics. Hansen both documents and celebrates the strategies required to navigate academic identity, research partners and the empirical process itself, which, through a shifting recognition of marginalised groups, offers an opportunity for a collaborative research process. In so doing she highlights the subtle and, at times, not so subtle normative cues that dictate who belongs and is expected in research space and how these manifest in the field. The book discusses the benefits and barriers to collaboration between disabled researchers when combining situated knowledge and empirical research.
