Claiming disability in the field of geography: Access,recognition and integration

The topic of physical disability has long been neglected in the field of geography. Geographers have challenged this neglect by undertaking studies of, for, and by persons with disabilities. This paper extends that challenge by examining the roles that disability and persons with disabilities play within the field of geography itself. The recognition and integration of persons with disabilities includes concerns with physical access, but also requires an examination of the institutional means by which geography departments, publications and conferences have worked and can work to challenge ableism: the neglect of disabled people's lives and perspectives. After centuries of exclusion, the recognition and integration of disability into society will surely be an issue of profound importance in coming years. We need geographers prepared and willing to study these processes.