Disability is not something one experiences in isolation of other characteristics. Sociocultural characteristics, such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age and disability, interact with each other in various combinations forming unique adults. When interacting with other characteristics, disability can dominate the other characteristics--not because it is in some way more important but because disability is rarely seen as anything other than pathology, something to be pitied or cured. Disability is rarely understood in adult education as a socially constructed category or an identity marker used to oppress and categorize. Oppression of people with disabilities is subtle and often has a paternalistic subtext: Able-bodied people know what is best for the person with a disability. Until now, the closest the field came to viewing disability as socially constructed was Ross-Gordon's (2002) article exploring the sociocultural contexts for learning of adults with disabilities and her presentation of the intersection of disability with race, class, and gender. This current issue of "New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education" was conceptualized from a disability studies paradigm. Several of the articles come from this paradigm, while others come from a more technical rational approach. It is important that both perspectives inform any discussion of disability in adult education.