School of Sociology and Social Policy

Dr Sonali Shah

Research Fellow

As a Research Fellow at the Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds, my research adopt different qualitative methodologies to examine the impact of public policy on the private lives of disabled people over historical time and in an international context.

I am Principal Investigator on collaborative ESRC funded project, with Prof Mick Wallis (School of Performing Arts and Cultural Industries) to transmit oral history texts of disabled people, generated through social scientific disability research, to 21st-Century secondary school audiences via different performance methods. It will enhance the impact of my previous work: Including a new generation (funded as part of a Nuffield Career Development Fellowship, 2006-2009), and The performance of disability histories: remembrance and transmission (funded as part of AHRC Beyond Text programme, 2008-2009) Before Leeds, I was Principal Investigator on a project at University of Nottingham, Future Selves: Career Choices of Young Disabled People. It involved using a diversity of qualitative methods, including forum theatre, to engage with young disabled people in compulsory education.

Teaching

My teaching interests are disability and social policy, particularly in relation to childhood, education and employment. I teach at undergraduate and postgraduate level on various modules.

Key Publications

Books

Shah, S. (2008) Young Disabled People: Choices, Aspirations and Constraints. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishers

Shah, S. (2005) Career Success of Disabled High-Flyers, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Shah, S.  and Priestley, M.  (2011) Disability and Social Change: Private Lives and Public Policies. Bristol: Policy Press

Journal Articles

Shah, S. (2011) Disability. Oxford Bibliography Online: Childhood Studies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011

Shah S (2010) The role of the family on the career aspirations of young disabled people,  International Journal of Disability Studies.  4 (1 & 2).100-125

Shah S and Priestley M (2009); Home and Away: the impact of educational policies on disabled children’s experiences of family and friendship. Research Papers in Education. 25(2). 155-174

Shah, S. (2006) Sharing the same world: The Researcher and the Researched, Qualitative Research, 6(2), pp.207-220.

Shah, S. (2007) Special or Mainstream? - The Views of Disabled Students, Research Papers in Education, 22(4), pp.425-442.

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