David Bolt (disability studies)

David Bolt is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies and the Director of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies^[1] at Liverpool Hope University, where he is also Professor of Disability Studies and Interdisciplinarity.^[2]

Bolt joined Liverpool Hope University in August 2009 as a lecturer in Disability Studies.^[3] He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, founder of the International Network of Literary & Cultural Disability Scholars ^[4], and was the first Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Disability Research at Lancaster University.

His published works include:

• The Metanarrative of Blindness: A Re-reading of Twentieth-Century Anglophone Writing ^[5] (The University of Michigan Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-472-11906-6).
• Cultural Disability Studies in Education: Interdisciplinary Navigations of the Normative Divide ^[6] (Routledge, 2019, ISBN 978-1-138-10327-6)
• Disability Duplicity and the Formative Cultural Politics of Generation X ^[7] (Routledge, 2023, ISBN 9781032553979)
• The Playground Model of Disability: Dis/honestly Tropes in Contemporary British Sociocultural Representation ^[8] (Routledge, 2026, ISBN 9781041064923)

• The Madwoman and the Blindman: Jane Eyre, Discourse, Disability Eds. David Bolt, Julia Miele Rodas, & Elizabeth J. Donaldson ^[9] (Ohio State University Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-8142-5226-0)
• Changing Social Attitudes Toward Disability: Perspectives from historical, cultural, and educational studies ^[10] Ed. David Bolt (Routledge, 2014 ISBN 9781138216051)
• Disability, Avoidance and the Academy: Challenging Resistance ^[11] Eds. David Bolt & Claire Penketh (Routledge, 2016, ISBN 1138858668)
• Metanarratives of Disability: Culture, Assumed Authority, and the Normative Social Order ^[12] Ed. David Bolt (Routledge, 2021, ISBN 9780367523190)
• Finding Blindness: International Constructions and Deconstructions ^[13] Ed. David Bolt (Routledge, 2022, ISBN 9781032229928)
• Cultural Stations of Disability: A Moment in Discourse ^[14] (Routledge, 2026, ISBN 978-1-032-87098-4)

• Literary Disability Studies Book Series ^[15] Eds. David Bolt, Elizabeth J. Donaldson, & Julia Miele Rodas (Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Publishing)

1. Friedrich, Patricia. The Literary and Linguistic Construction of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: No Ordinary Doubt ^[16] (2015, New York: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 9781349576388)
2. Disability in Comic Books and Graphic Narratives ^[17] Eds. Chris Foss, Jonathan W. Gray, & Zach Whalen (2016, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 9781137501110)
3. Disabling Romanticism: Body, Mind, and Text ^[18] Ed. Michael Bradshaw (2016, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-1-137-46064-6)
4. Thompson, Hannah. Reviewing Blindness in French Fiction, 1789-2013 ^[19] (2017, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-1-137-43511-8)
5. Tankard, Alex. Tuberculosis and Disabled Identity in Nineteenth Century Literature: Invalid Lives ^[20] (2018, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-319-71446-2)
6. Literatures of Madness: Disability Studies and Mental Health ^[21] Ed. Elizabeth J. Donaldson (2018, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-319-92666-7)
7. Row-Heyveld, Lindsey. Dissembling Disability in Early Modern English Drama ^[22] (2018, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-319-92135-8)
8. Performing Disability in Early Modern English Drama ^[23] Ed. Leslie C. Dunn (2020, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-030-57208-2)
9. Grubgeld, Elizabeth. Disability and Life Writing in Post-Independence Ireland ^[24] (2020, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-030-37246-0)
10. Amputation in Literature and Film: Artificial Limbs, Prosthetic Relations and the Semiotics of "Loss" ^[25] Eds. Erik Grayson and Maren Scheurer (2021, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-030-74377-2)
11. Healey, Devon. Dramatizing Blindness: Disability Studies as Critical Creative Narrative ^[26] (2021, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-030-80811-2)
12. Introna, Arianna. Autonomist Narratives of Disability in Modern Scottish Writing: Crip Enchantments ^[27] (2022, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-030-99273-6)
13. Haukaas, Anelise. Disability Identity in Simulation Narratives ^[28] (2024, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-031-44482-1)
14. Placing Disability: Personal Essays of Embodied Geography ^[29] Eds. Susannah B. Mintz & Gregory Fraser (2024, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-031-41219-6)
15. Logan-Smith, Louise. Neo-Victorian Cultural Collections of Disability: Interdisciplinary Navigations ^[30] (2024, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-031-76092-1)
16. Irish, Bradley J. Literary Neurodiversity Studies: Current and Future Directions ^[31] (2025, Palgrave Macmillan/Springer; ISBN 978-3-031-80603-2)

• A Cultural History of Disability ^[32] General Eds. David Bolt, & Robert McRuer (2019, Bloomsbury, ISBN 9781350029538)

1. A Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity, Volume 1. Ed. Christian Laes (2020, Bloomsbury Academic; ISBN 9781350028555)
2. A Cultural History of Disability in the Middle Ages, Volume 2. Eds. Jonathan Hsy, Tory V. Pearman & Joshua R. Eyler (2020, Bloomsbury Academic; ISBN 9781350028746)
3. A Cultural History of Disability in the Renaissance, Volume 3. Eds. Susan Anderson & Liam Haydon (2020, Bloomsbury Academic; ISBN 9781350028906)
4. A Cultural History of Disability in the Long Eighteenth Century, Volume 4. Eds. D. Christopher Gabbard & Susannah B. Mintz (2020, Bloomsbury Academic; ISBN 9781350028944)
5. A Cultural History of Disability in the Long Nineteenth Century, Volume 5. Eds. Joyce L. Huff & Martha Stoddard Holmes (2020, Bloomsbury Academic; ISBN 9781350029101)
6. A Cultural History of Disability in the Modern Age, Volume 6. Eds. David T. Mitchell & Sharon L. Snyder (2020, Bloomsbury Academic; ISBN 9781350029323)

• Autocritical Disability Studies Book Series ^[33] Ed. David Bolt (Routledge)

1. Metanarratives of Disability: Culture, Assumed Authority and the Normative Social Order. ^[34] Ed. David Bolt (2021, Routledge; ISBN 9780367523190)
2. Finding Blindness: International Constructions and Deconstructions.^[35] Ed. David Bolt (2022, Routledge; ISBN 9781032229928)
3. Pritchard, Erin. Midgetism: The Exploitation and Discrimination of People with Dwarfism ^[36] Ed. David Bolt (2023, Routledge; ISBN 9781032465944)
4. Houston, Ella. Advertising Disability ^[37] Ed. David Bolt( 2024, Routledge; ISBN 9781003433415)
5. Lee, Yoon Joo. Stories on Disability Through Our Voices: Born This Way ^[38] Ed. David Bolt ( 2025, Routledge; ISBN 9781032740935)
6. Barden, Owen. Learning with Learning Disability: What Learning Disability Can Teach Us About Being Human ^[39] Ed. David Bolt (2026, Routledge; ISBN 9781032534138)

Bolt is the director of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies ^[40] (CCDS; Liverpool Hope University). The work of the CCDS is fundamentally concerned with social justice; with challenging and changing the inequalities and prejudices that disabled people face on a daily basis.

Key areas of interest include:

• The analysis of representations of disability in all forms of cultural production (e.g., literature, film, art, advertising, television, etc.), and how these shape wider public understandings of disability.
• Curricular reform at all levels of education.

The CCDS events are internationally recognised for bringing together a mix of Early Career Researchers and some of the most eminent professors in the field. The seminars are often filmed. People can now subscribe to this channel to access various videos.

In the early 21st century, Bolt was involved in creative writing as a tutor at Newcastle Under Lyme College and as a writer of poetry and short stories. His short stories appeared in Breath & Shadow, the literary magazine of the organization Ability Maine.^[41] Short stories include, "Spangles^[42]", "The Currency of Beauty", and "The Silent Treatment". "The Silent Treatment" was anthologized in the book Dozen: The Best of Breath and Shadow (2016, CreateSpace; ISBN 9781541266407).

• Centre for Culture & Disability Studies Archived 7 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• Disability Archive UK Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• CCDS YouTube Channel