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Stephen Unwin

Beautiful Lives

How We Got Learning Disabilities So Wrong

For much of history, people with learning disabilities have been regarded as unworthy of interest – often seen as a threat to the social order and sometimes dismissed as barely human. While recent years have seen an improvement, learning-disabled people are still treated as fundamentally different. Beautiful Lives is a personal and pragmatic account, told through the eyes of a father whose son has severe learning disabilities.

From early civilisation to the chilling realities of twentieth-century eugenics, this powerful book uncovers a startling and rarely told history – one deeply embedded in the challenges still faced today. Stephen Unwin shapes this history into a powerful story of love, lived experience and the long struggle for a better future.

“This book is both heart-rending and gorgeous. It crosses the line many times but ultimately, it’s about love. He teaches us humanity.” — Miriam Margolyes.

“Thank you, Joey, for getting your dad off his arse to write this book.” — Hugh Bonneville.

“A beautiful book – powerful, persuasive, illuminating, moving.” — Gyles Brandreth.

“This is a wonderful and important book. Beautifully written, of course; but full of pain and joy, concern and celebration.” — Simon Russell Beale.

“A powerful, multi-faceted, myth-busting account of the most marginalised and belittled out-group in modern society.” — Simon Jarrett, author of Those They Called Idiots.