Disability Visibility is ideologically rooted in disability studies. Many of its contributing authors are active disability studies scholars, including editor Alice Wong, and the book relies on disability studies concepts, terms, and topics (e.g., “crip,” “crip time,” “ableism,” “bodymind,” “accessibility,” “models of disability”).

Disability studies is an academic discipline that emerged in the late 20th Century. Traditionally, the study of disability was approached from a medical and/or clinical perspective. The disability studies perspective provides a counterpoint that centers the social experience of having a disability rather than the scientific study of disabling conditions. The first disability studies journal, Disability Studies Quarterly, was originally issued in 1986. The first disability studies program was launched at Syracuse University in 1994. At the time of writing, there are several major disability studies journals, and degrees in disability studies are awarded at hundreds of accredited universities around the world.

While disability studies is generally considered a subgenre of critical theory, it is also interdisciplinary (using methodologies and standards from multiple disciplines) and multidisciplinary (drawing knowledge from other disciplines). Popular topics in disability theory include intersectional identity, disability history, accessibility issues, infrastructure and design, legal issues and advocacy, and sociopolitical identity.