It is with great sadness that we share the news of Mike Oliver’s death, a disability rights scholar, activist, and author who was most well known for his contributions to the social model of disability. Michael was an Emeritus Professor of Disability Studies at the University of Greenwich. He has published extensively in the area of disability rights and theory including his most famous works, The Politics of Disablement (Oliver, 1990) and the New Politics of Disablement (Oliver and Barnes, 2012).

“Michael Oliver provided the movement with a central transformational idea that shifted much thinking around the meaning and source of disability. While the ideas are sometimes contested and often debated, they have had a profound impact. Mike also provided the disability movement with a magazine that is still, after many years, relied on by scholars in the field – Disability and Society. We owe a debt to Mike Oliver and we honour and recognize his legacy.”

– Marcia H. Rioux