ABSTRACT
It is becoming increasingly clear that one of the key issues in disability activisim – the social model of disability – is subject to repeated attacks, particularly within the academic community. What is equally clear is that much of the ‘bad press’ has been prompted by interpretations of the social model that many of us would fi nd particularly strange. As you might expect, academic discussion is often marked by both completely incomprehensible language and a startling lack of humility – each writer seems to assume that their contribution offers an invaluable new insight and that anyone who does not accept it must be hopelessly stupid or badly informed.
