This guide is intended for researchers and students studying Disability History. It is also useful for practitioners and members of public with an interest in or who have disabilities and who wish to gain a historical perspective.
Use this guide to find out about available resources for Disability History including archives, books, journals and more. Use the tabs at the top to navigate to different resources.
We very much welcome feedback via email. Do you have a suggestion for additional resources? Recommend a resource now!
14 Nov to 20 Dec. 2024 will be UK Disability History Month.
This year's focus will be on "Disability Livelihood and Employment".
This guide was created by the 2022-23 History Faculty Library trainee as part of a year-long project. The resources within were crowdsourced during a Hackathon by 24 volunteer researchers in 2022 and as such the guide is necessarily limited in scope.
However, this guide does cover aspects of disability history including:
For the purpose of this guide we have used a wide interpretation of the term 'disability' including some topics which may include people who do not identify themselves as having a disability. Their inclusion in this category is intended only to foster further research and discussion and is not intended as a statement regarding their identity.
Additionally some of the material linked here may contain offensive terms or terms whose meaning has changed over time, but this does not reflect the views of any person or entity involved in the creation of this LibGuide.
Oxford has a wide range of printed books and ebooks on Disability History in many libraries. These include:
Need help?
The Oxford Handbook of Disability History by
Disability history exists outside of the institutions, healers, and treatments it often brings to mind. It is a history where the disabled live not just as patients or cure-seekers, but rather as people living differently in the world - and it is also a history that helps define thefundamental concepts of identity, community, citizenship, and normality.The Oxford Handbook of Disability History is the first volume of its kind to represent this history and its global scale, from ancient Greece to British West Africa. The twenty-seven articles, written by thirty experts from across the field, capture the diversity and liveliness of this emergingscholarship. Whether discussing disability in modern Chinese cinema or on the American antebellum stage, this collection provides new and valuable insights into the rich and varied lives of the disabled across time and place.
A History of Disability by
The increasing numbers of scholars, policy-makers, and political activists who are concerned with questions of physical and cognitive disability will warmly welcome Henri-Jacques Stiker's book, the first to attempt to provide a framework for analyzing disability through the ages. Published in 1997 in France as Corps infirmes et sociétés and available now in an excellent English translation, the book traces the history of western cultural responses to disability, from ancient times to the present. In this volume, Stiker examines a fundamental issue in contemporary Western discourse on disability: the cultural assumption that equality/sameness/similarity is always desired by those in society. He highlights the consequences of such a mindset, illustrating the intolerance of diversity and individualism that arises from placing such importance on equality. Importantly, Stiker does not hesitate to assert his own stance on the issues he discusses: that difference is not only acceptable, but that it is desirable, that it is necessary. The author goes beyond anecdotal history to traverse a little known history, penetrating to the heart of collective attitudes and reflecting on elements of policy. The sweep is broad; from a rereading and reinterpretation of the Oedipus myth to current legislation regarding disablity, he proposes an analytical history that demonstrates how societies reveal themselves through their attitudes towards disability, at times in unexpected ways, since the study of detail is often the best entry into the whole of a culture. The book will be of interest to scholars of disability, historians, social scientists, cultural anthropologists, and those who are intrigued by the role that culture plays in the development of language and thought surrounding the disabled.
A Cultural History of Disability by
How has our understanding and treatment of disability evolved in Western culture? How has it been represented and perceived in different social and cultural conditions? In a work that spans 2,500 years, these ambitious questions are addressed by over 50 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. The volumes describe different kinds of physical and mental disabilities, their representations and receptions, and what impact they have had on society and everyday life. Individual volume editors ensure the cohesion of the whole, and to make it as easy as possible to use, chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The six volumes cover: 1. Antiquity (500 BCE - 500 CE); 2. Middle Ages (500 - 1450); 3. Renaissance (1400 - 1650) ; 4. Long Eighteenth Century (1650 - 1800); 5. Long Nineteenth Century (1800 - 1920); 6. Modern Age (1920 - 2000+). Themes (and chapter titles) are: atypical bodies; mobility impairment; chronic pain and illness; blindness; deafness; speech; learning difficulties; mental health. The page extent is approximately 2,000pp with c. 200 illustrations. Each volume opens with notes on contributors, a series preface and an introduction, and concludes with notes, bibliography and an index. A Cultural History of Disability is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available as hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a tangible reference for their shelves or as part of a fully-searchable digital library. The digital product is available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access via www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com . Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available in print or digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com .
Disability Histories by
The field of disability history continues to evolve rapidly. In this collection, Susan Burch and Michael Rembis present essays that integrate critical analysis of gender, race, historical context, and other factors to enrich and challenge the traditional modes of interpretation still dominating the field. Contributors delve into four critical areas of study within disability history: family, community, and daily life; cultural histories; the relationship between disabled people and the medical field; and issues of citizenship, belonging, and normalcy. As the first collection of its kind in over a decade, Disability Histories not only brings readers up to date on scholarship within the field but fosters the process of moving it beyond the U.S. and Western Europe by offering work on Africa, South America, and Asia. The result is a broad range of readings that open new vistas for investigation and study while encouraging scholars at all levels to redraw the boundaries that delineate who and what is considered of historical value. Informed and accessible, Disability Histories is essential for classrooms engaged in all facets of disability studies within and across disciplines.
The Routledge History of Disability by
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. The book is arranged in four parts, covering histories of disabilities across various time periods and cultures, histories of national disability policies, programs and services, histories of education and training and the ways in which disabled people have been seen and treated in the last few decades. Within this, the twenty-eight chapters discuss topics such as developments in disability issues during the late Ottoman period, the history of disability in Belgian Congo in the early twentieth century, blind asylums in nineteenth-century Scotland and the systematic killing of disabled children in Nazi Germany. Illustrated with images and tables and providing an overview of how various countries, cultures and societies have addressed disability over time, this comprehensive volume offers a global perspective on this rapidly growing field and is a valuable resource for scholars of disability studies and histories of disabilities. ieth century, blind asylums in nineteenth-century Scotland and the systematic killing of disabled children in Nazi Germany. Illustrated with images and tables and providing an overview of how various countries, cultures and societies have addressed disability over time, this comprehensive volume offers a global perspective on this rapidly growing field and is a valuable resource for scholars of disability studies and histories of disabilities.
Writing disability : a critical history by
Explores personal narratives across a broad sweep of history to reveal the interplay of dynamics that have shaped both personal and societal conceptions of mental and physical disability.
You may find helpful resources in many of our other guides such as:
This LibGuide was created by Alice Shepherd, the History Faculty Library Graduate Trainee from 2022-23, as her project for the year.
Many thanks go to her hard work.
Thanks also to the 24 volunteer researchers who provided resources for the guide during the Hackathon, and to the History Faculty for hosting and funding the event.
Research in this area requires an awareness of the history of disability and how attitudes and terminology have changed over time.
Think about:
The following X (Twitter) accounts are worthwhile following:
Useful hashtags are : #DisabilityHistory - #DisHist - #UKDHM (UK Disability History Month)
