Personal profile
Research interests
My PhD research, undertaken in collaboration with the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People. focuses on the history of the Disabled People's Movement (DPM) in Britain and, in particular, its contribution to political theory. Utilising the recently opened Disabled People's Archives in Manchester - the largest collection of DPM papers in Britain - I seek to show the depth and nuance of the DPM's analytic models and theoretical positions; foregrounding the concrete emancipatory struggles and competing visions of equality and liberation which made this intellectual work possible. Against modern readings of the DPM's analysis, I argue that this intellectual corpus is neither monolithic, myopic, nor reductive; and is best understood as a complex integration of macrological social theory, institutional critique, and theories of social change into an operational model of social movement practice. This entails that the DPM's history and theoretical productions are read in dialogue with political economy, theories of the state, and contemporary social movement history.
Education/Academic qualification
Bachelor, Certificate in Professional Studies: Archives and Records Management (Awarded with Distinction), University of Liverpool
Award Date: 1 Jul 2024
Master, MA: Continental Philosophy, University of Warwick
Award Date: 14 May 2014
External positions
Senior Teaching Associate
Oct 2024 → Jan 2025
Teaching Associate
Jan 2024 → Jun 2024
Lead Development Worker - Disabled People's Archive
Aug 2022 → Jan 2024
Researcher
Jun 2020 → Dec 2020
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Anchoring disablement: social definitions and social ontology in Britain’s Disabled People’s Movement
Beesley, L., Apr 2025, Epistemic Resistance, Radical Politics, Positionality: How Social Movements Inform Philosophy. Karagiannopoulos, Y., Polykarpon, V. & Stamatiadis-Brehier, A. (eds.). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH, p. 207-228 22 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding with ISSN or ISBN › Chapter
Open AccessFile -
The National Care Service: A Victim of Elite Class Struggle
Beesley, L., 12 Feb 2025, 2 p. Scottish Left Review.Research output: Other contribution
Open Access -
“[T]he most precise and thorough understanding of the situation we are struggling to change”: re-capturing emancipatory disability research
Beesley, L., 23 Apr 2025, In: Frontiers in Sociology . 10, 11 p., 1562498.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
A Fragile Alliance: Disability Politics and Institutions as (pseudo-)Social Movements in Post-War Britain
Beesley, L., 25 Mar 2024, Repenser l’institution et la désinstitutionnalisation à partir du handicap: Actes de la Conférence Alter 2022. Hachez, I. & Marquis, N. (eds.). Bruxelles: Presses Universitaires Saint-Louis Bruxelles, p. 297-319 22 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding with ISSN or ISBN › Chapter › peer-review
Open Access -
Anti-Discrimination Legislation as Organisational Problem: Rethinking the Disabled People’s Movement’s (DPM’s) Political Campaigns in Britain
Beesley, L., 6 Jun 2024.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
Open AccessFile
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Social Movements and Philosophy
Beesley, L. (Presenter), Richardson, K. (Presenter), Polykarpou, V. (Presenter) & Haaksma, K. (Presenter)
5 Aug 2025Activity: External talk or presentation › Oral presentation
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Joint session “Europe’s disability archives: past and present transformation”
Beesley, L. (Presenter), Wagner, J. (Presenter) & van Wijnen, A. (Presenter)
8 Jul 2025Activity: External talk or presentation › Oral presentation
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Disability and Rights: The Possibilities and Limits of Rights Discourse under Neoliberalism
Beesley, L. (Organiser), Chis, I. C. (Organiser), Introna, A. (Organiser), Brittain, J. (Organiser), Williams, C. (Organiser), Tarrant, A. (Organiser), Kakoulis, E. (Organiser) & Watson, D. (Organiser)
13 Jun 2025 → 14 Jun 2025Activity: Events › Conference
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Disablement in the Socialist World
Beesley, L. (Presenter) & Scharf, B. (Presenter)
4 Jun 2025Activity: External talk or presentation › Oral presentation
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Advance HE (External organisation)
Beesley, L. (Chair)
11 Apr 2025Activity: External boards and professional/academic bodies › Membership of professional body