Mark Priestley is a Research Fellow at the Disability Research Unit at Leeds University. He teaches disability studies and has published many articles, chapters and research reports in the field. He was formerly a lecturer in rehabilitation work with visually impaired people and an independent trainer with social services staff. His research has been informed and directed by the Derbyshire Coalition of Disabled People. He is the administrator of the international e-mail discussion list disability-research@mailbase.ac.uk. His website is at http://webserv1.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/dru/dru.html