This book is the first German-language introduction to Disability Studies from a cultural studies perspective. It illuminates the processes of production, representation, and transformation of 'extraordinary bodies' within the framework of historically and culturally conditioned interpretative patterns, forms of knowledge, and institutionalized practices. It invites interdisciplinary explorations in a challenging and exciting landscape of theory and discussion, illustrating its theses with examples from the history of medicine and literary studies, among others.