The long nineteenth century—stretching from the start of the American Revolution in 1776 to the end of World War I in 1918—was a pivotal period in the history of disability for the Western world and the cultures under its imperial sway. Industrialization was a major factor in the changing landscape of disability, providing new adaptive technologies and means of access while simultaneously contributing to the creation of a mass-produced environment hostile to bodies and minds that did not adhere to emerging norms. In defining disability, medical views, which framed disabilities as problems to be solved, competed with discourses from such diverse realms as religion, entertainment, education, and literature. Disabled writers and activists generated important counternarratives, made increasingly available through the spread of print culture.

An essential resource for researchers, scholars, and students of history, literature, culture, and education, A Cultural History of Disability in the Long Nineteenth Century explores such themes and topics as: atypical bodies, mobility impairment, chronic pain and illness, blindness, deafness, speech dysfluencies, learning difficulties, and mental health, with 34 illustrations drawn from period sources.

Table of contents

List of Figures       vi–ix
Notes on Contributors     x–xi
Series Preface        xii–xvi
Introduction 1–22
1. Atypical Bodies 23–42
2. Mobility Impairment   43–60
3. Chronic Pain and Illness   61–78
4. Blindness 79–94
5. Deafness  95–112
6. Speech     113–128
7. Learning Difficulties   129–148
8. Mental Health Issues   149–168
Back matter
References   174–199