I am a principal lecturer and Quality Lead in the Department of Education, Childhood and Inclusion.  I teach on undergraduate education courses as well as supervise doctoral level students. My main areas of research include 'disability' in popular culture, the constitution and regulation of interpretative strategies within cultural disability studies and, more recently, the commodification of impairment.  I am on the editorial board of Disability and Society and am a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Like many people, the academic study of disability was not something I had heard much about. However, during my doctoral research, I was introduced to the idea that disability can, and should, be studied from social and cultural perspectives. Since then, I have discovered a growing and vibrant area of academics, activists, practitioners and, most importantly, disabled children and adults. Everyone involved shares an interest in gaining a better understanding of the prejudice and discrimination people with impairments face and in finding ways to make the world more accessible and accommodating for all.

My University of Sheffield/ESRC-funded PhD research, subsequently, evolved into a re-evaluation of how we interpret cultural representations of disability. Assessing how texts, as diverse as poems by Walt Whitman, novels by Toni Morrison and sitcoms on British television, I explored the constitution and regulation of interpretative strategies within the emerging area of Cultural Disability Studies.

My current areas of research include the cultural functioning of 'impairment categories' as promises of 'new normals', the commodification of impairment, such as autism and the teaching/researching of 'disability' through cultural texts.

Beyond the world of research, I am the Quality Lead for the Department of Education, Childhood and Inclusion taking the lead on quality enhancement across all the department's provision.  I also provide 'disability equality' related sessions for a variety of other courses, and supervise doctoral students on EdD and PhD programmes.