The CDS is a centre for research and education in the field of disability studies at the University of Leeds.
CDS' approach to research and education is grounded in social model approaches, and they are committed to participatory methods in their work which they achieve by sharing control over the production and dissemination of research with individual research participants and organisations run by disabled people.
CDS brings together staff and post-graduate researchers with widely varying interests and backgrounds, from a number of Schools and Faculties across the University. They also host regular visits by disability studies scholars and research fellows from around the world.
Their approach to research and education is grounded in social model approaches, which recognise that disability is above all a form of institutional discrimination and social exclusion, rather than a product of physical difference between individuals. CDS remains at the forefront in promoting this approach amongst the international research community.