The second half of the 20th century, perhaps more than any other period, produced great changes in how we think about and respond to disability as a public issue in Britain. Not only was there a proliferation of new public policies but also an awakening of political consciousness about disability. But what of those who lived their lives through this period? How do the lives of young disabled people today compare with those who grew up in previous generations? In short, has life changed? This book seeks answers to these questions by using a combination of biographical experiences and historical policy analysis.

The source material came from a three-year empirical research project conducted at the University of Leeds and funded by the Nuffield Foundation. In particular, the biographical narratives used for illustration are drawn from a selection of 50 life history interviews with three generations of women and men (born in the 1940s, 1960s and 1980s) who grew up in England. Each of these generational cohorts grew up in changing times. The oldest generation were born during, or shortly after, the Second World War and grew up with attempts to more systematically address disability in British social policy (and the emergence of the post-war welfare state). The second generation, born in the 1960s, experienced childhood and early adulthood at a time when assumptions about the social exclusion of disabled people were coming under scrutiny (for example, in critiques of segregated care and special schools, and in the rise of the early disabled people's movement). The youngest cohort, born in the 1980s, are the first generation to reach early adulthood in an era of non-discrimination and human rights legislation affecting all aspects of their lives.

The book focuses on the stories of those who were diagnosed or labelled with physical impairments prior to compulsory school age (that is, from birth or infancy) and includes people who grew up in Northern, Southern, urban and rural parts of England (although one participant had attended school in Scotland before moving to England). This selection includes 15 people representing the oldest generation, 19 from the middle generation, and 16 from the youngest generation (a total of 50 out of 60 interviews).