Disability Matters

A major six year pan-national programme of disability, health and science research, funded by a Wellcome Trust Discretionary Award (2023 - 2029)

Disability Matters

Anita Ghai is seen in her wheelchair, wearing a bright pink dress. On the left is Sandeep Singh wearing an orange top and cream trousers. On the right stands Dan Goodley, wearing a flat cap, blue shirt and trousers. All are smiling together outside a building entrance.
Anita Ghai, Sandeep Singh and Dan Goodley

Professor Anita Ghai, Rest in Power

Together we remember Professor Anita Ghai: the brilliant, groundbreaking disability studies scholar and dear friend of our programme.

Read our message here

Disability as driving subject of inquiry

Logos of the five collaborating Universities
Logos of the five collaborating Universities

Our Universities

A global collaboration of universities committed to transforming health research and environments through a paradigm shift to disability as the driving subject of inquiry

Our university collaborators

The logo of the Wellcome Trust
The logo of the Wellcome Trust

Our Funders

Our project is funded by a Wellcome Discretionary Award - find out more about our funders

Wellcome Trust website

An image of a modern town crier
An image of a modern town crier

News

Latest news from the Disability Matter's team

Link to news from the Disability Matters team

Collaboration

Image 'wheelchair barbie from the 90s hangs with the disability politics books" by Liz Henry is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
Image 'wheelchair barbie from the 90s hangs with the disability politics books" by Liz Henry is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Disabled People's Organisations

Our International Research Advisory Board includes representatives of disabled people's organisations from five countries who will hold the research programme to account: to ensure the aspirations of disabled people are represented in our work

Our DPO partners

An image of the office windows of the Arts Tower University of Sheffield - original image 'A tidy mess' - arts tower, university of sheffield, england" by Paolo Margari | paolomargari.eu is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
"a tidy mess - arts tower, university of sheffield, england" by Paolo Margari | paolomargari.eu is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

An international team of researchers

We bring together a team of disabled and non-disabled researchers from India, Singapore, Australia, Canada and the UK

The Disability Matters Research Team

An image of a disabled activist holding a sign reading 'Nothing about us without us' by Elisney is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
An image of a disabled activist holding a sign reading 'Nothing about us without us' by Elisney is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Our aims

We want to challenge the 'absent presence' of disability in science and research.

Disability Matters has a number of ambitious aims

Work

The spines of a number of critical disability studies texts
An image of the spines of a number of critical disability studies texts

Scholarship

How is health research, theory and scholarship transformed by an engagement with critical disability studies?

Find out about online symposia, conferences and conversations

'Arrests of disability activists at protest of California health care budget cuts' by Steve Rhodes is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
'Arrests of disability activists at protest of California health care budget cuts' by Steve Rhodes is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Priorities

What are the health priorities of disabled people in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore and the United Kingdom?

More on online world cafes, priority setting and policy analysis

prn possibilities

Methodologies

What kinds of research methodologies represent disabled people and their health priorities?

Online methodology workshops and crowd-sourced portal

A collective of dolls presented on a window sill to capture community
A collective of dolls presented on a window sill to capture community

Environments

How does the presence of disability enable more inclusive health research environments?

Our plans to research and inform university cultures

A poster with joy written on it behind a poster of Marx to capture different representations
A poster with joy written on it behind a poster of Marx to capture different representations

Representations

In what ways can we reimagine representations of disability in health research?

Rethinking disability representations in the science and health sector

A photo image of Frida Kahlo warning against the dangers of commodifying equality and diversity
A photo image of Frida Kahlo warning against the dangers of commodifying equality and diversity

Development

How do we build a new generation of disabled and disability-positive health researchers?

Our plans to support a new generation of researchers

Outputs

institutions prn image

Transforming EDI through disability

Our ambitious plans to transform Equality, Diversity and Inclusion through disability

Transforming EDI through disability

A photo of sewing notions to depict knowledge exchange
a photo of sewing notions to depict knowledge exchange

Knowledge Exchange

Our aspirations to share knowledge across the university, health and science sectors

Sharing knowledge

spiral metal images of disability and ability
spiral metal images of disability and ability

Publications

Publications from the Disability Matters team

Publications from Disability Matters

photo of a book shelf
photo of a book shelf

Disability Matters Scholarship collection

A collection of papers from scholars around the world who are challenging their own disciplines through the application of critical disability studies

A link to the Disability Matters scholarship collection

people in conversation
people in conversation

Online conversations

Bringing together different perspectives from around the world about the power of disability to rethinking health, science and research

Online conversations about the power of disability