Defying Disability

In this volume, Wilkinson, former editor of the newspaper Disability Now, profiles nine disabled leaders from the UK, based on interviews with them and people who know them, and other sources. She profiles public servant Bert Massie, Labour politician Jack Ashley, activist and campaigner Rachel Hurst, academic Tom Shakespeare, entrepreneur Phil Friend, broadcaster Peter White, actor and performer Mat Fraser, activist and campaigner Andrew Lee, and Paralympic champion Tanni Grey-Thompson. She describes the roles they played, how they dealt with discrimination, what drove them to achieve, their impact on policies and practice, and how the history of disability in the UK has affected their lives. The book is aimed at students in disability studies, disabled people, their families and carers, and others. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mary Wilkinson was Editor of the campaigning newspaper, Disability Now, for over 20 years, until 2005. With a team increasingly composed of disabled people, she developed Disability Now into the UK's leading pan-disability newspaper.