Disability studies is a multidisciplinary area that developed in 1970s, but especially after 1980s. This area sprouted mainly with the social movements of 1960’s, especially in UK and USA.

The aim of this edited volume is to represent the recent discussions and literature of a relatively new area of study, disability studies, to the readership in Türkiye. Disability studies is a multidisciplinary area that developed in 1970s, but especially after 1980s. This area sprouted mainly with the social movements of 1960’s, especially in UK and USA. When the return of Vietnam war veterans to their countries met with the restlessness of 1960s, there emerged a disability movement focusing on the disability identity, experience, and rights. As an academic area, Disability Studies was shaped with the acceleration of the movement, and enriched itself through nourishing from other interests in Social Studies (like Marxist critique, phenomenology, women’s studies, racial studies and queer).

Here, Disability Studies consists selected topics of this area organized under five topics. These are by order: Theoretical Approaches to Disability, Disability in History, Processes of Exclusion/Inclusion, Disability Movement, and Disability and Identity. Bringing the fundamental discussions into Turkish through this volume, we hope to contribute to the newly emerging academic studies and facilitate the collaboration between academy and disability movement, from which we expect hearing more of its critical voice.

Dikmen Bezmez is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Koç University. Sibel Yardımcı and Yıldırım Şentürk, in Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts Sociology Department. Her recent research is focused on the study of disability within the framework of recent discussions on citizenship, more specifically urban citizenship.

Sibel Yardımcı is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Her expertise is in urban sociology, sociology of culture, and public space.

Yıldırım Şentürk is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. His expertise is in the fields of space and city, transnational studies, globalization, and neoliberalism.