Cures and Curses

Cures and Curses examines disability in folklore and folk tales, bringing disabled characters from the margins to the centre of traditional storytelling. Its collection includes accounts shaped by curses that need breaking, punishments inflicted on individuals and underdogs struggling against the odds.

Alongside the tales, Beth O’Brien discusses the ways disability is represented in folklore, drawing attention to both the range of these portrayals and their unexpected nuance. The book considers how familiar story patterns can frame disabled characters, whether as targets of misfortune, figures seeking release from a curse or people whose resilience challenges the forces arrayed against them. It presents folklore as a record of changing ideas about disability, adversity and social difference.