The Bodley Head pre-empts ‘ground-breaking’ 500-year history of disabled lives

The Bodley Head has pre-empted Professor David Turner’s Disability: A History of Resistance, “a ground-breaking history of disabled lives in Britain over the course of 500 years that for the first time puts disabled people at the centre of the story”.

Stuart Williams, publishing director, acquired UK, British Commonwealth and Europe rights on behalf of The Bodley Head from Hannah Schofield at LBA, for publication in hardback, e-book and audio formats in 2025.

The publisher’s synopsis reads: “Technological breakthroughs, greater political representation and increased visibility in popular culture all make it easy for us to believe that disabled people today are better off than those in centuries past. And yet, this idea of modern Britain as a triumph of continual progress is harder to swallow if we put disabled people at the centre of the narrative.

“David Turner draws from a wide range of previously overlooked sources – including love letters, petitions, prison records and oral histories to name a few – to reveal the rich and complex lives of disabled people since the 16th-century.

“The result is a panoramic story that takes disability history beyond the world of medicine, institutionalisation and suffering into one of resistance, resourcefulness and resilience. And in highlighting the many years of activism to which we owe modern disability rights, Turner shines an important spotlight on the work we still need to do to become a truly inclusive society.”

David Turner is a social and cultural historian at Swansea University specialising in disability, medicine and gender. He is the first person in the UK to be promoted to a professorship based on their work in disability history and has published widely on the subject. He also co-devised the BBC Radio 4 series "Disability: A New History" and has acted as a historical consultant on various television shows including BBC Two’s "Silenced". 

Turner said: “I’m thrilled to be working with The Bodley Head to bring disability history from the margins to the mainstream. Uncovering stories of disabled people in history in all their richness and diversity will help to challenge stereotypes at a time when better understanding of disability is needed more than ever.”

Williams commented: “This is a ground-breaking, deeply important and revelatory book from a writer who is perfectly placed to write the first history of disabled lives in Britain for the general reader. We’re looking forward enormously to publishing David.”
Schofield said Williams’ proposal “blew me away”. “It’s fascinating, wide-ranging, revolutionary and, above all, human,” she said. “Stuart and his team’s enthusiasm and vision have been fantastic from the get-go – I’m so excited for this partnership.”