In collaboration with the Student Support and Wellbeing team and as part of Disability History Month, we are delighted to welcome Professor Mike Oliver to the University of Kent to speak for the fifth instalment of the 2017-18 Distinguished Visitor Lecture series.
DISABILITY HISTORY, BLEEDING HEARTS AND PARASITE PEOPLE
In Disability History Month, it is important to recognise the small but important role this university played in shaping our understandings of disability. From small beginnings here and elsewhere, the social model of disability has had a profound effect on disability consciousness and a significant influence on social policies.
These developments have also provoked controversy however, and in recent years reactionary forces have begun to rewrite what happened as a way of justifying the vicious attacks that have been launched on the living standards and lifestyles of disabled people. At this time it is important to challenge these attempts at rewriting recent history and to explain what’s really happening to disabled people in 21st century Britain.
Professor Mike Oliver is an academic, author and disability rights activist, having undertaken research in this area since the 1970s as one of the key figures in developing researchers' and society's perception of disability. He is Emeritus Professor of Disability Studies at the University of Greenwich with focus on advocating the social model of disability and the rights of people with impairments.