Disability: A History of Resistance

by David M. Turner

A groundbreaking history of modern Britain that puts the experiences of disabled people to the fore for the first time.

'A timely and enjoyable untold history' PHILIPPA GREGORY, author of Normal Women

'A rare feat of a so many extraordinary stories, so many lost names, brought to light' RAYMOND ANTROBUS, author of The Perseverance

Despite there being more than 16 million disabled people in the UK today, disability rarely features in mainstream accounts of our past. That absence is not down to lack of it is a forgotten, suppressed history – the result of deliberate choices about whose histories matter. This remarkable book rectifies this.

Disability is a story of resistance and ingenuity, full of people who refused to be silenced or pitied. We meet the labourer who fights accusations in court that he’s faking his disability, and wins; the painter who signs her royalty miniatures ‘without hands’; and the one-armed textile worker who turned his injury into reform. We see how disabled people have rallied together to demand equality – fighting for their right to lead ordinary lives like everybody else.

This is a story not of progress led by doctors or philanthropists, but an extraordinary ground-up history of ordinary people demanding dignity and justice. By putting disabled people back into our national story, David Turner reveals a fuller and richer history of modern Britain than ever before.

'Gripping, profound and important' GABRIEL WESTON, author of Alive

'A lively, sensitive history' GAVIN FRANCIS, author of Recovery

'Truly fantastic' GRACE SPENCE GREEN, author of To Exist As I Am

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Disability, Social Justice

Kindle Edition

First published June 4, 2026

Reviews

[Dyfan Dyfans Dyfanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disability: A History of Resistance is a brilliant testament to the agency of disabled people throughout history. The author succeeds in bringing in many incredibly researched life stories into an accessible book that avoids any condescension and grasps the necessary nuance needed for positive change to happen. This book will definitely be influential.

[David Cutler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book which sets the standard for histories of disability. Limited almost entirely to the UK and to the last 500 years most of the book is concerned with mobility and sensory impairments with some attention to learning disabled people. It also layers this with race, gender, sexuality and class. It is very readable for the non-specialist, largely because it is a book stories told by disabled people about their lives drawing on a rich literature unknown to me at least. And as the title states, this is a history of resistance to an oppressive society with limitations on anyone different. Most touchingly this includes love and marriage.

Depressingly it needs to conclude on the struggles of an age of austerity and the continued need for resistance.

[Hannah Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who was much more familiar with the American disability rights movement, it was a pleasure to learn about the British version. This book is extremely well researched and clearly written, and I learned a lot from it!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Very interesting.

[Ravenshadow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid and enjoyable book

[Seolhe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most striking thing about this book is how little attitudes towards disability have changed despite all the progress we've made. The more things change...

This was such an interesting and engaging read.
Rather than just presenting us with famous disabled people through the ages, Disability highlights the way disabled people from all walks of life changed British history, and how the fight for disability rights interacted with the plights of other marginalised groups, including worker's rights, the abolitionist movement and women's suffrage.