Thinking Affect within Critical Disability Studies

Disability Matters is a major six year pan-national programme of disability, health and science research, funded by a Wellcome Trust Discretionary Award. A key ambition of Disability Matters is to make disability the driving subject of research. Between 2023 and 2029, the programme is running a number of short and accessible Online Symposia.

In this symposia, three critical disability scholars from Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia) will address matters of affect that shape the lives of disabled people.

Andrea Garcia-Santesmases will analyse the sexuality and intimate lives of disabled people. Her presentation is entitled "The Intersection of Gender, Disability, and Sexuality: Challenging Ableist and Normative Codes".

Laura Sanmiquel-Molinero will explore how affect and Critical Disability Studies have shaped her work on adjustment to disability. The title of her presentation is "Adjustment to dis/ableism, affect and agency in clinical settings: a provocation?"

Finally, Javier Monforte will present a catchy typology to approach the intersection of disability and happiness. His work is entitled "Introducing DisHappiness: a typology on the intersection between disability and happiness"

A zoom meeting will be held - and the link will be released by 9am on the 2nd October 2025. This is for reasons of security.

Time zones

The online Symposium will run 12 noon - 1pm (Sheffield/UK time).

Disability Matters is a pan-national programme and welcomes attendees from all over the world. When attending online symposia, please check the time according to your local time zone as it may differ from what is listed on the event page.

Access

Written copies of the speaker’s talks will be made available before the session at Disability Matters Scholarship Collection.

Attendees are welcome to join or leave the event at any time. Participating in the Q&A and discussion is optional. A recording of the talk will be available after the event.

If you have other specific access needs or have further questions about access, please get in touch via disabilitymatters@sheffield.ac.uk