Disability & Society Special Issue: contemporary controversies and challenges

the response to our Call for Papers for this Special issue was tremendous. it was international, activist focused, and scholarly, highlighting contemporary controversies and challenges for disabled people of all ages. the Executive Editorial Board has been privileged to review all submitted papers, resulting in a Special issue that offers a wealth of ideas and insights, raising important questions for further exploration and discussion. Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaborations are explored, in keeping with the original aims of the journal: to prioritise the voices of disabled people. Since the Call for Papers for the Special issue went out, Covid-19 has intervened globally, disturbing all aspects of life. disabled people have been particularly badly affected by changes in social conditions and relations of life. drawing on a virtual ethnographic study of disability support networks in China using WeChat, ruikai dai and luanjiao Hu have been able to explore the importance of inclusive communications to confront CoVid-19 disruptions. they highlight self-determination, and self-help actions generated from within disability communities. all papers selected illustrate how societies’ conceptions of how disabled people express themselves fall short. Creative approaches to facilitating the expression of disabled people’s views are discussed, including ways of hearing from those who are seldom heard. in thoughtful and imaginative ways, coping strategies used by disabled people in algeria during the CoVid-19 pandemic are also explored by amel Said Houari and Ghouti Hadjoui. they cover new ways in which interactions and encounters, in the context of pandemic emergency restrictions, can be challenged and changed. one of the most exciting aspects of the Special issue is its overarching analysis of the social construction of different experiences in disabled people’s lives. and contingent relations with socio-political and cultural context are noted. Monica Kaniamattam and Judith oxley are interested in the support needs of mothers with disabled children in South india. Seray ibrahim, asimina Vasalou, laura Benton & MichaSeray ibrahim, asimina Vasalou, laura Benton & Michael Clarke are working in the UK to understand how new communication technologies can be meaningfully developed and deployed through the activities of practitioners and researchers – to raise children’s voices. Kathryn locke, leanne Mcrae, Gwyneth Peaty, Katie Ellis and Mike Kent are similarly concerned with the inclusion of disabled people in the development of new technological advancements in their study of the importance of smartphones for people in the australian blind community. the importance of an intersectionality lens for understanding disabled people’s experiences in relation to their identities, such as ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class or religion, is taken up in research carried out by Steven david Emery and Sanchayeeta iyer with two deaf migrants. Syreeta Nolan’s personal account of what she calls ‘the