A study of the history and contemporary significance of the cultural assumptions that govern our conception of people with disabilities. The book shows how current notions about the physically disabled came into being, and argues for a whole new way of thinking about disability.
Bending Over Backwards reexamines issues concerning the relationship between disability and normality in the light of postmodern theory and political activism. Davis takes up homosexuality, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the legal system, the history of science and medicine, eugenics, and genetics.