The other night I had a quick read of Valentine, Gill. What it means to be a man: the body, masculinities, disability in Butler, Ruth & Parr Hester, Eds. Mind and Body Spaces: Geographies of illness, impairment and disability (London: Routledge, 1999) p. 167-180. I was left thinking about masculinities for the past few days and what this author had to say about this. But the point of the article was that disability changed a disabled miners view of his own identity but he remained masculine after coming to terms with his disability and this suggests that rather than viewing disability as disabling societies and the need to become politically aware, that, the practical strenght of working class masculinity can over come diversity and leave a disabled person healthy and fit and emotionally productive.