Thematic Streams

NNDR2027 builds on the successful thematic stream structure introduced at the Helsinki conference (2025), while also presenting new streams. By bringing together researchers, activists and practitioners with shared interests, the thematic stream structure aims to foster dialogue, collaboration, and the development of strong networks within the NNDR community. In addition to the open sessions, we welcome paper proposals to the following thematic streams:

Education plays a central role in shaping opportunities for learning, participation, inclusion, and belonging across the life course. For disabled people, educational experiences and environments can be particularly significant in influencing access, participation, identity, and future opportunities. This thematic stream welcomes contributions that examine disability and education from diverse disciplinary, theoretical, methodological, and empirical perspectives.

Given the growing interest in this topic, as well as the broad span of education across different life contexts, the thematic stream is organised into three sub-streams: Preschool Education, Primary and Secondary Education, and Higher Education. Descriptions and coordinators for each sub-stream are listed below.

Early childhood education: Disability in children´s daycare centres

Kindergartens and day care centres constitute the initial stage of children’s educational trajectories across the life course. They are formally defined as inclusive institutions, implying that inclusion is addressed both programmatically and legally. Although the historical development of kindergartens varies internationally—and their pedagogical traditions differ accordingly— the European systems of early childhood education and care are generally expected to value children’s play both as an intrinsic good and as a pedagogical resource. In this sense, children´s daycare centres are positioned in a dual role: they are expected to distinguish themselves from compulsory schooling while simultaneously preparing children for their future participation in the school system.

At present, and in the years ahead, it is crucial to identify how social inclusion has been consolidated within children´s daycare centres regarding disabled children. Comparative analyses—both within and across national contexts—can generate important insights into these institutions.

This stream invites contributions from a wide range of disciplines exploring:

The interaction among diverse groups of children, staff members, parents and the health & social services or other stakeholders connected to the daycare centres
If and how the pedagogical programs foster recognition and flourishing for every child
How disabled children’s agency and vulnerability are negotiated in everyday pedagogical practices
How the social category of disability is shaped and enacted within these institutional contexts
If and how the institution itself changes in line with the policy changes

We invite contributions that are empirical or theoretical in nature, as well as presentations addressing ethical and methodological issues and dilemmas.

Coordinators:

Prof. Dr. Anja Tervooren - University of Duisburg-Essen

Prof. Borgunn Ytterhus - Norwegian University of Science and Technology

This stream focuses on how primary and secondary education produce, maintain, or challenge inequalities affecting persons with disabilities. Primary and secondary education settings shape who is included, who is excluded, and under what conditions. Exclusionary organisational practices can lead to unequal educational outcomes, limited employment opportunities / opportunities for further education, reduced visibility, and broader social marginalisation.

The objective of this stream is to examine how organisational structures, cultures, and practices affect children, youth, staff, and other stakeholders, while also engaging intersectional perspectives on how disability interacts with other axes of inequality, and to identify barriers as well as opportunities for more inclusive organisational practices.

In doing so, this stream seeks to a) contribute to a better understanding of how inequalities are (re)produced and maintained, and b) advance research on the organisational (re)production of inequality and on the conditions under which more inclusive institutional practices can emerge.

This stream invites contributions addressing questions such as:

Who is affected by exclusionary practices in primary and secondary education?
How do exclusionary practices affect children, youth, staff, and other stakeholders with disabilities?
What do exclusionary and inclusive organisational practices look like in primary and secondary schools, and how are they sustained or challenged?
What strategies and solutions can foster more inclusive educational organisations (and societies)?
How are disability categories, accommodations, eligibility criteria, and support arrangements organisationally defined, administered, and negotiated?

Coordinators

Svenja Hammer - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Social Work

Sidsel Marianne Holiman - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Teacher Education

Robert Aust - Macromedia University of Applied Sciences, Campus Leipzig/Germany

The Gemini Centre Oppink - centre for research on inclusion in school and childhood. Contact person: Joakim Caspersen, NTNU Social Research

Disability experience in tertiary education

This theme will explore the contribution of people with lived experience of disability in tertiary education, universities and society including researchers, educators, students, and future employees. It will promote reflection on experiential knowledge, lived experience or expertise of both positive and enabling approaches as well as systemic and ableist barriers to the full access and participation in post-secondary education.

This session will have a broad disciplinary reach to explore themes such as:

the value of experiential knowledge for student learning and the broader tertiary education and university community.
the potential contribution of disability theory and thinking to pedagogy or andragogy and curriculum development.
the need to move disability from the margins to the mainstream, from reliance on disability champions to system wide inclusion.
·ableism in academia and adult education.
disability justice in higher education.
structural approaches to tertiary education and university system change in curriculum design.
universal design for learning.
the importance of disability studies as a critical discipline in tertiary education.
accessibility in fieldwork/practicum education.
including people with intellectual disability in tertiary education and university life
case studies and models of good practice.
disability leadership in tertiary education and the University.
the contribution of experiential knowledge to research, policy and social change.
contributions of disability experiential knowledge in health professional education.

Coordinators:

Tal Jarus & Laura Yvonne Bulk - University of British Columbia

Kim Bulkeley & Shane Clifton - Centre for Disability Research and Policy, University of Sydney

Lise Mogensen - Western Sydney University

Clodagh Nolan - Trinity College Dublin

This stream seeks to build and bolster inter- and multi-disciplinary work in the research of Disability throughout history, sharing case studies and methods between seemingly different fields. It is our experience that such interactions lead to fruitful cooperations and collaborations. Following the 2025 NNDR's successful sessions, we want to continue our work in allowing for more historically focused research being incorporated into the large platform of NNDR. The focus of the 2027 NNDR on DEI - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - reminds us of the importance of historical work within the larger international academic effort that motivates Disability Studies. This stream aims to advance knowledge on disability-related diversity throughout history and contributes to tracing, deconstructing and understanding not only the historical context in its own right, but also in relation to contemporary topics, theoretical and methodological discussions within disability studies. Co-authored presentations stressing multidisciplinary cooperations will be encouraged, as well as papers that highlight the intersections between different fields and methods of Disability Studies.

Topics that papers could cover, but should not be limited to:

Fruitful (i.e. with potential for future research in various fields) historical case studies
Fruitful historical themes
Intersections between Disability Studies, Deaf Studies, Crip Theory and Disability History
Critical historiographical surveys
Historical topics and case studies examined through multidisciplinary perspectives
Neglected historical sources
Global historical trends
Localized historical case studies
Methodological approaches and discussion of challenges and opportunities

Thematic Stream Coordinators

Yoav Tirosh - Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland)

Hanna Björg Sigurjónsdóttir - Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland)

Stefan Celine Hardonk - Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland)

Alice Bower - Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland)

The digital society is rapidly changing the conditions in a broad range of areas. For people living with a disability this often means completely new challenges, but also significant opportunities. This thematic stream brings together discussions on disability and digitalization. The central achievement of disability studies is to understand relationships between bodies and technologies as primarily social matters. In that sense, we need research where the different dimensions of digital society are considered from disability studies perspectives. The stream takes as a point of departure the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), highlighting how rights and technology are closely intertwined. From an interdisciplinary perspective, this stream will deepen current themes around the importance of digitalization in relation to the disability field and welcomes contributions that further develop digital disability studies as an emerging field. It will offer perspectives on how digital technology can be understood through disability studies, and how discussions in social sciences, science and technology studies, and the humanities may reshape existing disability theories. Central approaches include a focus on accessibility and the CRPD as a normative framework. Other key aspects concern how global inequalities are intertwined with digitalization, and how new ideals of citizenship and ability norms are produced through these developments.

Coordinators

Contact person: Kristofer Hansson - Malmö University

Sára Csillag - Budapest University

Lorenzo Dalvit - Rhodes University

Susan Flynn - University of Dublin

Mabel Giraldo - University of Bergamo

Stine Liv Johansen - Aarhus Universitet

Current changes in the world of work, such as digitalization, flexibilization and individualization, could be an opportunity for better inclusion and overcoming of barriers for employment of people with disabilities, but also yield the risk of creating new barriers and new cleavages of exclusion. At the same time, inclusion and equal labour market participation of persons with disabilities remain widely recognized as important societal goals, yet in parts of Europe the political climate has shifted, with related policies and measures increasingly questioned or coming under pressure, posing new challenges for advancing and sustaining inclusive labour markets.

Persons with disabilities have lower employment rates, higher inactivity and unemployment rates than persons without disabilities. The latest figures from Eurostat suggest that the disability employment gap in Europe is 24 percentage points. Employment rates for persons with disabilities vary throughout Europe, but no country has yet made significant progress in reducing the disability employment gap (European Human Rights Report 2023).

Although the Nordic countries perform better than other European countries, they are also far from realizing the UN CRPD (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) right to work on equal basis with others in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities (article 27) (cf. OECD 2022).

In this thematic stream we will explore the barriers and opportunities for people with disabilities to equality in the labour market, employment and work life. Relevant themes include but are not limited to:

The labour supply among persons with different types of disabilities, the lived experiences of job search, work and employment.
The attitudes and behavior of employers towards persons with different types of disabilities, disability disclosure, discrimination, stigma, inclusion, diversity management and preferential treatment.
Opportunities and risks associated with transformations in the world of work (e.g., flexibilization, new work, digitalization) for the work situation of people with disabilities.
Innovative strategies, policies and measures to promote labour market participation of persons with disabilities (e.g. anti-discrimination laws, quota schemes, reasonable accommodation, wage subsidies, employment services and support programs)
The role and practices of the public employment system in assisting persons with disabilities in finding employment.
The interplay between the supply, demand and matching actors in practice.
Similarities and differences between Nordic disability and employment policies.

The thematic stream will be an opportunity to take stock of Nordic research on disability and the labour market, exchange experiences, explore opportunities for networks, joint publications and applications to further strengthen the research field.

Coordinators

Thomas Bredgaard - Aalborg University

Johanna Gustafsson - Örebro University

Eric Breit - BI Norwegian Business School

Siri Yde Aksnes - Centre for Welfare and Labour Research, Oslo Met

Stefan Hardonk - Iceland University

Lena Hünefeld - Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/TU Dortmund University

Frauke Mörike - TU Dortmund University

Bastian Pelka - TU Dortmund University

Anne Deremetz - TU Dortmund University

Even though the majority of disabled people reside in the global South, the experiences and voices of disabled people are largely absent within mainstream disability studies that has long been dominated by a Northern lens. The thematic stream of “Global Disability Studies” calls for a decentering of disability theorizing by engaging in a transnational and comparative understanding of disability rights and justice across cultures and contexts, with a particular focus on the broadly defined Global South contexts. This stream welcomes submissions addressing the sociocultural, economic, geopolitical, and historical processes that shape the marginalization, deprivation, exclusion, and, equally important, empowerment and activism of disabled people and their allies in the South. These may encompass a broad range of topics including but not limited to disability in the local contexts of poverty and livelihood, relationality and interdependence, self-help and community activism, sociocultural representation, global and domestic migration, colonialism, accessibility, intersectionality, inclusive and special education, and beyond. We also welcome studies critically examining the globalization and local translation of the disability rights discourses, particularly along with the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international disability development initiatives. Submissions from scholars and institutions from the Global South are particularly welcomed.

Coordinators

Stephen Meyers - University of Washington;

Shixin Huang - Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Washington

Independent Living is a social movement and a field of enquiry with a rich, distinctive, and dynamic research agenda. It brings together many contemporary debates within disability advocacy and disability studies, while keeping disabled people’s voices and self-determination central. Our thematic stream builds on this powerful intersection between activism, research, and policy engagement.

Since its emergence in the 1960s in the United States, Independent Living has become increasingly global. Key academic and policy topics include deinstitutionalisation, personal assistance, peer support, supported decision-making, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and community-based services. Conceptually, Independent Living has informed innovative analyses of advocacy, agency, identity, (bio)power, care, and inter/dependence.

More recently, Independent Living has paid greater attention to intersectionality to accommodate the growing diversity within the movement. New technologies, including developments in artificial intelligence (AI), have also been critically scrutinised. In addition, recent crises have forced Independent Living thought and activism to grapple with COVID-19 and its aftermath, armed conflicts and militarisation of societies, austerity agendas, migration trends, and climate change.

The proposed thematic stream will provide a platform for a continuing discussion on these issues, drawing on the success of the Independent Living stream at NNDR Conference 2025.

Coordinators of the thematic stream:

·Kamil Goungor, Policy and Movement Support Officer - European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), Brussels

·Miro Griffiths, Associate Professor of Social Policy and Disability Studies - University of Leeds, UK

·Rannveig Traustadottir, Professor Emerita, Director of the Centre for Disability Studies - University of Iceland, Iceland

Teodor Mladenov, Senior Lecturer - University of Dundee, UK (main contact)

Developed within and evolving from Critical Disability Studies, Mad Studies is now its own field of study. Building on shared histories of resistance to medicalization, marginalization, and individualization, Mad Studies contributes critical perspectives on madness and psychiatric oppression that enrich and deepen disability studies spaces. We believe this thematic stream is an ideal place to foster a sustainable Mad Studies scholarly community. With this in mind, we seek presentation abstracts on, but not limited to, the following subthemes:

The place of madness within academia
Mad communities and their role in the development of Mad Studies
Diverse, localized and heterogenous understandings of Mad Studies
Experiences of mad researchers, community members, theorists, teachers, artists, activists engaging with “dangerous” knowledge
Sanism and epistemic injustice within and outside the clinic
Mad Blackness, Black madness and anti-Black sanism
Forced treatment, carcerality and the state
Medical assistance in dying for psychiatrized people
Mad care work and crip practice
Links between colonialism, psychiatry and anti-Indigenous sanism
Disability justice and mad activism
Entanglement of institutional ableism and sanism
Mad storytelling
Madness and the Global South
Mad cultural production: mad art, artivism, mad cultural production as activist praxis
Creating and widening Mad community and initiatives
·Building sustainable scholarly infrastructure for Mad Studies to flourish
Links between Mad Studies and Neurodiversity/Neuroqueer Studies
MadTrans Studies
Mad activism and Mad movements as Mad studies praxis

Coordinators

Sarah Golightley - University of Strathclyde

Elina Ikävalko - University of Helsinki

Matthew Jackman - University of Sydney

Bren LeFrançois - Memorial University of Newfoundland

Persons with disabilities encounter persistent barriers across both education and employment, including discrimination, unequal access to inclusive and high-quality education, inaccessible workplaces, and limited opportunities for career development. Together, these interconnected barriers hinder full participation across key arenas of society and social life, posing a threat to both equality and the long-term sustainable of welfare societies.

The Nordic countries’ ability to respond to these challenges, aligned with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), requires a deeper understanding of methodological issues and solutions. Persons with disabilities represent the world’s largest minority, yet also a highly heterogeneous group. Conceptualising disability therefore presents multiple methodological challenges. Despite progress, researchers still face issues such as proxy indicators, small sample sizes, and limited access to longitudinal data. Comparable measures across countries are also crucial to identify structural barriers and evaluate policy effectiveness.

This stream aims to address broader methodological challenges in disability research and foster exchange among researchers working on (comparative) approaches to studying participation, autonomy, and inequality across key societal domains. We particularly invite contributions based on national and EU-level surveys, survey experiments, field experiments, and administrative register data. Both single-country and comparative studies from Nordic and European contexts are welcome, and we encourage submissions from various disciplines, including social policy, political science, social work, sociology, and economics, to create an interdisciplinary forum within a Nordic and European context.

Stream coordinators:

·Elisabeth Ugreninov (Associate Professor) - Faculty of Social Science, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.

Frederik Thuesen (Senior Researcher) and Vibeke Jakobsen (Senior Researcher) - VIVE Social Welfare and Labour Market, Denmark

·Dan-Olof Rooth (Professor) - Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University, Sweden

“Neurodiversity” is a relatively recent neologism that is used to describe the range of neurological functioning that exists in any human population. This stream focuses on the experiences of neurodivergent people, who have profiles outside of what is considered neurotypical, some of whom may also regard their neurodivergence as an identity.

Neurodivergency research 

Most research into neurodivergency is based either on the medical or social model. The former views the difficulties encountered by neurodivergent people as personal deficits that require correction through medication, surgery, treatment, intervention, or medical equipment. The latter views such problems as the result of the physical and social world not being designed to meet the needs of neurodivergent people.

Contributors to this stream should consider the barriers to achieving equity in their chosen theme and explore the “lived experiences” of neurodivergent people and their families. Contributions could cover the neurodivergent experience of, for example, leisure, education, employment, friendships/families or relationships, housing, health, gender and sexuality, ageing, and the criminal justice system. We would particularly welcome contributions reflecting the global, diverse experience of neurodivergency.

Submissions should aim to ensure that the language used is considerate and supportive of neurodivergent people. For example, research demonstrates that the autistic community prefers identity-first language, therefore describing people as autistic rather than as ‘a person with autism’ (person first language) which could imply that the autism is separate from a person’s original ‘unspoiled’ identity. Supporting presentations or posters should avoid using negative imagery such as puzzle pieces.

Coordinators

Tracy Turner - University of Hertfordshire Business School

Luke Beardon - Sheffield Hallam University

Allan Jepson - University of Hertfordshire Business School

Nicola Martin - London South Bank University

De-institutionalized services and support based on individual preferences have fundamentally changed the opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. The small community based and more individualized services that have replaced institutions aim to promote self-determination, participation, and a sense of meaning and purpose. They are potentially better equipped to deliver high-quality support and a good quality of life as well as realise the human rights of people with intellectual disabilities. However, cases of abuse and violence towards people with intellectual disabilities are regularly identified in these same settings, and research suggests that good practice is fragile, and outcomes of similar services are variable. Therefore, continued discussions about quality and safeguarding are necessary.

This thematic track, based on research contributions from different continents, focuses on recent analyses of the quality of support and services and the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities themselves, their families, staff, managers and of politicians. The factors that contribute to, or hinder, the quality support and services for people with intellectual disabilities will be explored. These include challenges related to the severity of disability, staff competence, evidence informed working methods, the organisational factors needed to embed good practice and legal regulations. The theme includes discussions of the strengths and weaknesses of different methods for measuring the quality of support and services as well as specific aspects of service quality for people with intellectual disabilities.

Coordinators

Christine Bigby - La Trobe University

Magnus Tideman - Marie Cederschiöld University

Petra Björne - Umeå University

Knowledge, Conceptual Development, and Critical Reflection

As an alternative to an individualistic diagnosis of disability, this thematic stream invites papers focusing on disability understood in the context of major shifts in social structures and institutions. Rather than treating these issues in isolation - from one another or from wider social contexts - the sessions in this stream explore how disability, mental health, and ill-being are not located solely at the level of the individual body.

The stream examines living conditions and opportunities as they are shaped by the dialectical relationship between individuals and changing professional identities, institutional structures, cultural imaginaries and norms, as well as by political and scientific discourses.

We welcome interdisciplinary contributions that seek to revisit and critically re-examine substantial understandings of dis/ability.

In 2027, the stream's coordination group places particular emphasis on diversity as a point of departure for developing new paradigms and methods that can strengthen multidisciplinary disability research in the field.

We also invite contributions that engage with the vocabularies of social pathologies and disability in contemporary and innovative ways, that point toward new approaches to sustainable inclusion and diversity.

Suggested Themes

Suggested themes may include, but are not limited to:

Foundational Understandings in Research and Practice - the shaping of new concepts and practices
New paradigms and methods to strengthen multidisciplinary efforts in the field.
Foundational discussions related to neurodiversity in contemporary civilizations.
Pathways toward sustainability and bio/human diversity
Problem constructions, knowledge, and rationalities of governance
Contemporary concepts of social pathologies and their relevance for disability research.
Contextual conditions, socioeconomic inequality, epistemic injustice and their influence on inclusion and exclusion.

Stream coordinators

Bjørg Kjær, Associate Professor & Ida Danneskiold-Samsøe, Associate Professor - Danish School of Education, Educational Sociology, Emdrup

Pia Ringø, Associate Professor & Emil Falster assistant professor - Department of Society and Politics, Aalborg University

Anne Kielland, Researcher - The Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research, The Welfare and Living Conditions Team, Oslo

Anthon Sand Jørgensen, Associate Professor - Faculty of Social Education, University College of Northern Denmark

This stream invites papers which explore the inequalities and diversities that shape the transitions of disabled young people as they move from childhood into adulthood. This period in the lives of all young people has changed significantly over recent decades, as pathways to adulthood have become more complex and fragmented. Disabled young people face particular challenges as they move through adolescence into adulthood and while some disability studies work has explored the issues around transitions between paediatric and adult health and social care, the wider landscape of transitions is now also being considered. This moves discussion beyond individual and uncritical understandings of the values of independence, choice and responsibility to engage with the broader constraints that shape transition experiences. In looking at transitions more widely, we can begin to understand how the experiences of disabled young people have been changed by social, political and economic shifts across areas such as employment, education, social care, technology, and wider welfare systems, as well as the impact on family and/or other significant relationships. It is therefore important to develop understanding of what happens to disabled young people as they move towards adulthood, both to address the challenges and possibilities they face, but also for what that tells us about the nature of transitions across different local and global contexts.

Coordinators

Charlotte Pearson - University of Glasgow

Janice McLaughlin - Newcastle University

Jane Cullingworth - University of Glasgow

Tracy Shildrick - Newcastle University

Thematic Streams

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Neurodivergency research

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Neurodivergency research 