The Routledge History of Disability explores the shifting attitudes towards and representations of disabled people from the age of antiquity to the twenty-first century. Taking an international view of the subject, this wide-ranging collection shows that the history of disability cuts across racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, gender and class divides, highlighting the commonalities and differences between the experiences of disabled persons in global historical context.

Table of Contents

• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction ROY HANES
• PART I Histories of disabilities across time and cultures
• 1 Reason, value and persons: the construction of intellectual disability in western thought from antiquity to the romantic age TIM STAINTON
• 2 The courage of subordination: women and intellectual disability in the ancient Greek world M. LYNN ROSE
• 3 Jane Austen and me: tales from the couch DIANE DRIEDGER
• 4 Developments in disability issues during the Late Ottoman period of Turkish history from 1876 to 1909 MUALLA ERKILIC
• 5 A short history of disability in Italy LUIGI CROCE, FEDERICA DI COSIMO AND MARCO LOMBARDI
• 6 A short history of disability aspects from Israel JOAV MERRICK, ARIEL TENENBAUM, MOHAMMED MORAD AND ELI CARMELI
• PART II Histories of national disability policies, programs and services
• 7 The role of international institutions in the process of categorization of ‘disabled people’ (1930s–1975) GILDAS BREGAIN
• 8 Disabilities and disability services in Nigeria: past, present and future PAUL M. AJUWON
• 9 A short history of approaches to disability in the Netherlands LUC BRANTS, PAUL VAN TRIGT AND ALICE SCHIPPERS
• 10 A journey of change – history of disability in Hong Kong 1841–2014 LUC BRANTS, PAUL VAN TRIGT AND ALICE SCHIPPERS
• 11 Historical development of disability services in Singapore: enabling persons with disabilities KENNETH K. POON AND MENG EE WONG
• 12 Swedish disability policies: ideas, values and practices in a historical perspective RAFAEL LINDQVIST
• 13 One difference is enough: towards a history of disability in the Belgian-Congo, 1908–1960 PIETER VERSTRAETE, EVELYNE VERHAEGEN AND MARC DEPAEPE
• PART III Histories of education and training NANCY E. HANSEN
• 14 From their own hands: collecting oral testimony in signing communities MARTIN ATHERTON
• 15 The history of access to education of people with visual impairments in Great Britain from 1656 to 1999 ARCHIE W.N. ROY AND GISELA DIMIGEN
• 16 Out of sight, out of mind: blind asylums and missions in Scotland HAZEL MCFARLANE
• 17 Tracing disability history in the midst of cultural absence: an investigation into the Belfast Association for the Employment of the Industrious Blind MYRTLE HILL AND NANCY HANSEN
• 18 Australian histories of intellectual disabilities DAVE EARL
• 19 History and national policy documents on special education in Sweden KIM WICKMAN AND MARGARETHA KRISTOFFERSSON
• 20 The Italian path to school and social inclusion: problems, strengths and perspectives TERESA MARIA SGARAMELLA, LAURA NOTA, LEA FERRARI, SALVATORE SORESI AND AAMIR KHAN
• 21 Education of people with intellectual disabilities and hearing impairments in Spain: a historical approach CLIMENT GINÉ, CARLES LLOMBART, ANNA BALCELLS AND JOANA MAS
• 22 The case of the “dull” pupil in the Norwegian folk school 1892–1930 BODIL RAVNEBERG
• PART IV Spectacle, science, services and civil rights IVAN BROWN
• 23 The freak-show act: science and spectacle in the nineteenth century ANDREA ZITTLAU
• 24 Three illusions in clinical photographs of the feeble-minded during the eugenics era MARTIN A. ELKS
• 25 When is life unworthy of living? Lessons from the systematic killing of children with disabilities in Nazi Germany IVAN BROWN
• 26 The genesis of societies for crippled children in Canada and their American roots ROY HANES
• 27 Breaking the rules: summer camping experiences and the lives of Ontario children growing up with polio in the 1940s and 1950s KAREN YOSHIDA, SUSAN FERGUSON AND FADY SHANOUDA
• 28 Changing America's consciousness: a brief history of the Independent Living civil rights movement in the United States STEVEN E. BROWN
• Concluding remarks