WordPress.com



Medieval Christian EuropeEarly Modern period19th century20th centuryDescartes described the ‘body as object’ in 1637. The human body was increasingly described as a machine and as a container. That meant there was a clear boundary between the person and the world. The person was a ‘self’ and the world was ‘the other’. A person could be a spectator of the world and make judgements about it. Men such as William Harvey compared the way the blood moves around the body as like a pumping machine. Think: how would this change the way you would think about other people?The Roman Catholic Christian Church was the most powerful authority. The church linked disability to God’s punishment for sin. There were ideas that disabled children were the result of sex with the Devil. Yet, it also insisted on the duty of all Christians to do good works. The richer you were, the larger your good works should be. Good works included supporting anyone in need in society. The church made it clear that both sides benefited. The helper would be more likely to go to heaven. The person who was helped, would have a better life in this world. Think: would you describe the medieval attitude to disability as straightforward or complicated? Shakespeare writes about many types of disability. These include: blindness, limping, alcoholism, morbid obesity, infertility, war wounds, learning disability, epilepsy, senility and ‘madness’. Sometimes his characters are genuinely disabled, and sometimes they pretend to be disabled for a purpose.Think: can you remember any Shakespeare characters that you have studied who are disabled?In pre-industrial society, people made a living for themselves. There was less employment organised in workplaces, with rigid timetables and targets. If people could earn a living, then they would. The rest of society did not decide who was disabled. People were not put into groups and given a label as they were in later centuries. Think: What are the advantages and disadvantages of this way of thinking? The theory of the four humours was used to explain illness. If a person had too little, or too much, of something in their bodies, it was thought that their humours were out of balance. This meant that the human body was not seen as separate from the rest of the world. The human body was part of the environment. People were described as sponges which could pour out and receive spirit. The body was changeable and affected by its environment. As a result, people had different moods, they could be in low spirits, or in good humour. Think: how would you think about other people if you did not see your body as separate from the rest of the world?The German religious reformer, Martin Luther, wrote that it was acceptable for parents to kill their disabled children. He is an example of a religious person who saw severe disability from birth as the work of the devil. He did not think disabled children were fully human. He was the founder of a Christian church, the Lutheran church, that became very strong in Germany.Think: how might Luther have influenced views about disability in society? Women who gave birth to disabled children, risked being accused of witchcraft. The Dominican monks wrote a best seller called ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ in 1487 that described giving birth to disabled children as one of the signs of being a witch. Historians estimate that 8 to 20 million women were put to death for witchcraft in Europe in the medieval period.Think: would you describe the medieval attitude to disability as straightforward or complicated? As science became a voice of authority in society, the human body was increasingly compared to a machine. Some machines could be repaired. Machines that could not be repaired, were of less value. Paid work was increasingly organised and outside of the home. Working to a timetable and achieving targets was increasingly important. People were judged as useful or not useful to the economy. Think: how would this change attitudes to disabled people? The Elizabethan Poor Law divided people into the deserving and the undeserving poor. In the past, the Roman Catholic church had encouraged people to see the poor as people who would help everyone to get to heaven. Now, the state was saying that the poor were a burden on society that had to be coped with. Deciding that some people were undeserving, and therefore not really poor, was about relieving the burden on society. The word ‘disability’ first entered the English language soon afterwards. A new word to describe people who could not earn their own money so easily. Think: how would this change attitudes to disabled people? Ideas about the deserving and undeserving poor continued. There was a decrease in ideas that god, the devil and fate created illness. There was an increase in the number of scientifically trained doctors. The workplace continued to be more and more about being organised and efficient. Influential philosophers argued that society should be organised so that the majority of people got the best deal. This meant that workhouses were created to separate the poor, disabled and elderly from the working society. In 1845 people judged by doctors to be mentally ill could be forced by law into mental hospitals. Charities began to set up special schools for blind and deaf children.Think: how does all of this move disabled people out of society?Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was very influential. It sparked many other theories that have been proved false about the development of humans. These were applied to people born with disabilities. They were regarded as less perfect humans. If they had children themselves, it was presumed that it would be weakening the human race and making it less fit to survive and evolve. This brand of false science was called eugenics. It was very influential in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Think: how did this view prevent disabled people from being part of society?The First World War was the first war in history where more wounded men survived due to better infection control. 9.5 million men were left permanently disabled. These were clearly disabled people who deserved society’s support. From the first guide dogs for the blind, to advances in false limbs, there were many developments made. Pensions provided by the German government for their veterans, were better than the pensions for British ex-soldiers. Think: how much might the disabled war veterans have changed society’s attitude to disability?The theory of eugenics was carried to its extreme in Germany at the time of Hitler. Disability was decided by state doctors. People defined as disabled people were segregated, forcibly sterilised and murdered because they did not fit Nazi ideas of the perfect human race. Think: how might being taught these views as a child stay with a person even after Hitler had gone? After the second world war, the United Nations made its Declaration of Human Rights. These gave all minority groups the chance to fight for equality under international law. In 1980 the UN Year of Disabled People provided a chance for people with disability to show the big gap between real life for them and the nice words that were being said by world leaders about disability. Protests made people think. The years since have seen a move to the idea that society is the problem and not the disabled person. That is, society should enable disabled people to be a full part of society and not shut them away.Think: how does a city centre need to change to enable everyone to use and enjoy it? In the Second World War, the British government asked Dr Ludwig Guttmann to open a spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He organised the first competition for disabled athletes from Stoke Mandeville at the 1948 London Olympics. The first separate Paralympic games began in 1960 in Rome. The 2012 London Paralympics saw British athletes place third overall with 120 medals. Think: do you think role models like this are important for groups in society? ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download