Disability Theory
My theoretical interests in disability studies span socio-relational models of disability, crip theory, and disability-as-method — both as frameworks I apply across my research and as sites of active scholarly engagement. This work is developed in part through the Disability Studies Working Group at Curtin University's Centre for Culture and Technology, a collaborative space for theoretical discussion, writing, and peer engagement across disability studies scholarship. My contributions to disability theory appear across sole-authored and collaborative chapters, conference presentations, and ongoing engagement with the broader disability studies community nationally and internationally.
Disability, Society and Culture
Ellis, K., McKellar, J., Peaty, G., & Kent, M. (Eds.). (2026). Disability, society and culture. Taylor and Francis.
A collaborative project with the 'Disability Studies Working Group' in the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University.
The group worked collectively to review and discuss existing literature across a range of disability models and approaches, defining the scope and focus of each chapter.
Chapter Contributions:
The group worked collectively to review and discuss existing literature across a range of disability models and approaches, defining the scope and focus of each chapter.
Chapter Contributions:
- The Social Model of Disability (Ch.4) | Hersinta, & Moes, K.
- Critical Disability Studies | Moes, K., & Rattray, C.
- The Affirmation Model of Disability (Ch.8) | Dissanayake, A., Moes, K., & Fyfe, J. A.
- Conclusion (Ch.9) | Kent, M., Moes, K., Ellis, K., McKellar, J., & Peaty, G.
- A crip time-space odyssey: A bendy journey thinking about, through and with disability (Epilogue) | Moes, K.
Disability as Method
Drawing on Price and Kerschbaum's (2016) work on disability as method, and Mills and Sanchez's (2023) concept of crip authorship, I approach disability as something to think with rather than simply think about - a methodological and epistemological orientation that shapes how knowledge is generated, not just who is included in the process.
In practice, this means centring disability from the outset of a research project, and designing for crip-chronic temporalities, disclosing and drawing on insider positionality, and building space for the collective, experiential expertise of chronic illness-disability communities. I operationalise this through Price's (2012) four contact zones of access, activism, identification, and representation as core research design principles. This approach also informs how I understand disability as socio-relational and political, and supports a methodologically fluid orientation that is responsive to the complexity of the chronic illness-disability experience.
In practice, this means centring disability from the outset of a research project, and designing for crip-chronic temporalities, disclosing and drawing on insider positionality, and building space for the collective, experiential expertise of chronic illness-disability communities. I operationalise this through Price's (2012) four contact zones of access, activism, identification, and representation as core research design principles. This approach also informs how I understand disability as socio-relational and political, and supports a methodologically fluid orientation that is responsive to the complexity of the chronic illness-disability experience.