Critical Theory and Disability ― A Phenomenological Approach

Critical Theory and Disability explores social and ontological issues encountered by present-day disabled people, applying ideas from disability studies and phenomenology. It focuses on disabling contexts in order to highlight and criticize the ontological assumptions of contemporary society, particularly those related to the meaning of human being. In empirical terms, the book explores critically social practices that undermine disabled people's well being, drawing on cases from contemporary Bulgaria. It includes in-depth examination of key mechanisms such as disability assessment, personal assistance (direct payments) and disability-based discrimination. On this basis, wider sociological and ontological claims are made concerning the body, identity, otherness, and exclusion.

Teodor Mladenov has a PhD in Sociology of Disability from King's College London. He has published articles inDisability & Society, Critical Social Policy and Alter - European Journal of Disability Research, and has worked for many years as a researcher for disabled people's organisations and international NGOs operating in Bulgaria.