Centering lived experience to expose systemic barriers and reimagine disability inclusion.
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What does it truly mean to live with disability, and how do policy gaps shape everyday experiences?
Lived Experience of Disability, edited by Damian Mellifont, brings together voices of people with lived experience and committed allies to explore critical issues in Australian disability policy.
Covering topics from restrictive practices and healthcare disparities to barriers in research participation and academic inclusion, this book examines how policy intentions often fall short of meeting real needs. With insights on linguistic deprivation, rural challenges, sensory impairments, and disability leadership, it not only critiques current systems but also points to evidence-based directions for reform.
This is more than an academic resource—it is a call for genuine inclusion, representation, and systemic change. Lived Experience of Disability is ideal for students, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in disability studies and policy.
Contents
Damian Mellifont is a researcher and educator at the University of Sydney whose work advances disability inclusion, policy, and neurodiverse education.
Dr Damian Mellifont is a neurodivergent researcher who leads and contributes to studies that advance the economic and social inclusion of people with disability. Damian is a member of the Centre for Disability Research and Policy (CDRP) leadership team at The University of Sydney and head of the Lived Experience Research Lab. Damian has been an active member of the Centre over the last 5 years, with extensive prior experience in government policy analysis and evaluation. Damian strongly advocates for the disability inclusion mantra of, ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ to be consistently applied to research about disability.
Dr Jen Smith-Merry is Director of the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at the University of Sydney, Australia. The Centre for Disability Research and Policy produces collaborative research that actively influences policy and practice to improve the lives of people with disability in Australia and the Asia-Pacific and create a better life for people with disability around the world. Jen strongly believes that academic research, policy and service design should be led by people with disability. Jen has published over 100 academic and policy papers and policy focused research has led to significant structural reforms for disability policy in Australia.
Open Access License
This book is published under an open license. You are free to use it under the terms of the [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license][1]1 (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0). Any unauthorized use outside of this license is a violation of applicable copyright laws.
Open Access Policy
We believe in equity and transparency with our partners, so we use a different approach to funding open access books.
- 5% of all sales is set aside and pooled to fund author-choice open access publishing.
- Every 6 months we track (and publish publicly) our average cost of production.
Open Access Approach
Any of our authors at Lived Places Publishing can opt in to having their book considered for open access publishing. If they opt in, they will forgo royalties on the open access products (royalties will still be payable on printed books).
For more detail on our approach to open access publishing, please see our Open Access Policy, which is available in the footer of every page on the website.
Open Access Titles
Here is the complete list of published and forthcoming open access titles.
What does it truly mean to live with disability, and how do policy gaps shape everyday experiences?
Lived Experience of Disability, edited by Damian Mellifont, brings together voices of people with lived experience and committed allies to explore critical issues in Australian disability policy.
Covering topics from restrictive practices and healthcare disparities to barriers in research participation and academic inclusion, this book examines how policy intentions often fall short of meeting real needs. With insights on linguistic deprivation, rural challenges, sensory impairments, and disability leadership, it not only critiques current systems but also points to evidence-based directions for reform.
This is more than an academic resource—it is a call for genuine inclusion, representation, and systemic change. Lived Experience of Disability is ideal for students, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in disability studies and policy.
Contents
Damian Mellifont is a researcher and educator at the University of Sydney whose work advances disability inclusion, policy, and neurodiverse education.
Open Access License
This book is published under an open license. You are free to use it under the terms of the [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license][1]1 (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0). Any unauthorized use outside of this license is a violation of applicable copyright laws.
Open Access Policy
We believe in equity and transparency with our partners, so we use a different approach to funding open access books.
- 5% of all sales is set aside and pooled to fund author-choice open access publishing.
- Every 6 months we track (and publish publicly) our average cost of production.
Open Access Approach
Any of our authors at Lived Places Publishing can opt in to having their book considered for open access publishing. If they opt in, they will forgo royalties on the open access products (royalties will still be payable on printed books).
For more detail on our approach to open access publishing, please see our Open Access Policy, which is available in the footer of every page on the website.
Open Access Titles
Here is the complete list of published and forthcoming open access titles.
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