The Influence of Steven J. Taylor on Disabled Lives and Disability Studies

This book fills an existing gap in the history of the foundations and early developments of disability studies through analyzing the life and work of Steven J. Taylor, founder and chair of the first formal Disability Studies Program at Syracuse University, but who had already been teaching disability studies since the early 1980s “before it had a name.”

Organized around the key themes of Deconstructing/Rethinking Disability; Incarceration and Deinstitutionalization; Disability Policy; and Disability Studies, each section has contributions from leading US-based and international scholars. The authors represent a range of disciplines in disability studies and related fields, reflecting on their work in the context of, and in relation to, the scholarship of Steve Taylor, discussing the relevance of his work for their own scholarship as well as the field of disability research in general.

An important contribution to the field of disability studies, it grounds the vibrant and rapidly developing field of disability studies in its historical context, exploring the social and cultural environment which led to the establishment of this robust interdisciplinary field while also detailing how these early conceptualizations have set the stage for more critical theorizations of disability in sociology, education, social policy, and other fields.

Rannveig Traustadóttir is Professor Emerita and Director of the Center for Disability Studies, University of Iceland. Being one of the early pioneers of feminist disability studies, much of her interdisciplinary research has examined the intersection of disability, gender, and other relations of power. Rannveig was a founding member of Nordic Network on Disability Research (NNDR) and has been instrumental in developing disability studies as an academic field in the Nordic countries.

Nirmala Erevelles is Professor of Social and Cultural Studies in Education at the University of Alabama. Her interests lie in the areas of disability studies, critical race theory, transnational feminism, sociology of education, and postcolonial studies. At the University of Alabama Erevelles was awarded the Nelly Rose McCrory Faculty Excellence Award for Exemplary Research (2015) and the President’s Research Award (2016), as well as the Senior Scholar Award by the Society of Disability Studies (2017).

Zana Marie Lutfiyya is Professor Emerita, Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba. Her work has focused on the factors that help or hinder the social participation of individuals with primarily intellectual and developmental disabilities into community life. Zana was instrumental in establishing the master’s degree program in Disability Studies at the University of Manitoba, serving as its founding co-director.

Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri is a long-time employee at Syracuse University. While working at the Center on Human Policy and other programs, her broad-based support for multiple disability rights initiatives has served to improve the lives of people with disabilities. For many years, she has written and presented on disability, comic books, and popular culture, as well as disability rights and identities as a neurodivergent parent to an autistic son.

Michael F. Giangreco is a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Special Education at the University of Vermont. His work focuses on educating students with developmental disabilities within general education classrooms through curriculum planning, support services decision-making and coordination, alternatives to overreliance on paraprofessionals, and inclusive special education service delivery. In addition to numerous professional publications, Dr. Giangreco has created a cartoon collection, Absurdities and Realities of Special Education, lampooning the field of special education.

Pamela M. Walker is retired from her role as a Research Associate at Syracuse University's Center on Human Policy (1985–2017), where she contributed to a range of projects investigating the life circumstances, needs, and supports for individuals with disabilities. The Association for Persons with Severe Disabilities (TASH) recognized her with the Thomas Haring Research Award (1999). She served as Managing Editor of the Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (1984–1986).