Beyond Labels: International Conference on Disability, Different Ability and Neurodiversity

Disability, different ability and neurodiversity are concepts that traverse boundaries, challenging disciplines to rethink foundational assumptions about identity, culture and power. This interdisciplinary conference seeks to bring together scholars from different fields to critically examine the shifting narratives, representations and lived experiences surrounding ability and difference. How have historical understandings of disability and neurodiversity influenced contemporary policies, identities and cultural practices? What roles do language, art and education play in constructing or dismantling barriers to inclusion? How can we critically analyse the labels, frameworks and narratives that have historically marginalised, medicalised, or pathologised difference — and how are these being reimagined today? This conference invites contributions that interrogate the intersections of disability, different ability and neurodiversity from diverse disciplinary perspectives, encouraging critical reflection, theoretical engagement and creative exploration.