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Disability is poorly documented in the Middle Ages, though disabled people constituted a large part of Medieval society as part of the peasantry, clergy, and nobility. Very little was written or recorded about a general disabled community at the time, but their existence has been preserved through religious texts and some medical journals.
The disabled community[ dubious ] were a definite part of Medieval society. Disability was not considered an extraordinary quality among the medieval people and therefore was not heavily documented. Disability as a category of impairment was not seen in Medieval language, but rather terms such as "blynde", "dumbe", and "lame" were seen to attribute those with physical impairments. [1] The idea of disability being undesirable or unholy stemmed from the later eugenics movement that began in the early 20th century. Many scholars, such as Henri-Jacques Stiker, author of A History of Disability, would argue that people living with disabilities "were no less undistinguished at the dawn of the Middle Ages from the economically weak." [2] : 67 Due to the intensive labor that constituted agriculture during this time period, many peasants and serfs have been found with extensive spinal and limb injuries, as well as stunted growth, malnutrition and general deformity.[ citation needed ]
Disabled people were found among all parts of society. Monarchs across Europe were noted as having those with short stature, hunchbacks, or others with disabilities in their courts where they filled roles such as that of the King's Fool or court jester. This rank gave the disabled person a level of prestige. They were allowed to mock or tell the truth to the ruler, even if it displeased them to hear it. [2] : 70
Christianity, the dominant religion in western Europe, held mixed views on disability. Within the Bible, disability was aligned with sin and punishment, but also with healing and martyrdom. [3]
Some Medieval priests and scholars believed that a body would be corrupted by sin and therefore divine punishment took the form of physical illnesses. However, opposing schools of thought revolved around the concept that those with disabilities showed a higher form of piety than those who did not have physical impairments. [3]
In the Old Testament, God gave people disabilities as a form of divine punishment, with the root of it being a payment for the sins they have committed.[ citation needed ]
In the New Testament, there is much more content concerning healing and the miracles performed by Jesus Christ.
Canon Law, the legal codes that the Catholic Church followed, contained few restrictions against those with disabilities, such as the barring of physically disabled from becoming holy men. However, there were contradictory laws within the codes, allowing for those who were disabled after reaching priesthood to be able to move up the hierarchy and become bishops.[ citation needed ]
The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 enacted a law that linked bodily infirmity to sometimes be caused by sin. [4] Therefore, Medieval physicians were asked to hear their patients confessions so that their soul would be "cured" before the body was assessed. [3]
Among the monasteries and churches of Medieval Europe, charity was often given to those seen as disadvantaged or impaired. The disabled community were among the largest of groups to have benefited from the charity of local monks and priests.
France's Louis IX (Saint Louis) granted blind people a rare legal right to beg on the streets of Paris. [5]
Within the medical world of the Middle Ages, illness and disability were causally linked to sin. Since religion played a large role within Medieval society, many of the changes and deformities to the human body were attributed to one's sins, dating back to Original Sin. [3] There were mixed reactions and perspectives of people with disabilities, because different groups of Christians viewed disabilities in different ways.
Generally, Medieval physicians attributed much of their work to a combination of the ability to treat illness, such as fever and blisters, and religious faith. If an illness or physical impairment did not subside over time, it was considered an "incurable illness" and therefore was deemed as an act of God. [2] : 68
Mental disorders were often classified under demonic possession, as they were not within the physician's ability to diagnose or treat at the time and therefore patients with mental disorders were left to pray for divine healing.[ citation needed ]
Within the High Middle Ages, an almshouse in the City of London began caring for people with mental disabilities, and Bethlem hospital became the first mental institution in Europe. [6]
Lepers offered one of the most familiar images of disability in the medieval period. A disease that affected many throughout medieval Europe, leprosy was caused by a combination of poor hygiene and lack of resources such as proper treatments for the disease. At the time, there were mixed feelings about this group. Some, such as Francis of Assisi, argued that lepers were those who transformed themselves into the images of Jesus Christ and were to be treated as living symbol for his martyrdom. [2] Others, especially after the Bubonic Plague began to ravage Europe towards the Late Medieval period, condemned the lepers as sinful and having been the very people to spread the plague. To stop the spread of the horrifying disease, officials put individuals displaying symptoms and sometimes family members into leper houses. They were often in secluded locations and fashioned after monasteries. [2]
A few notable cases of glass delusion occurred during the Late Middle Ages. This mental disorder involved a person believing that they were made of glass and that they were fragile, able to break or shatter upon impact.
Melancholia was believed to be caused by an imbalance of the Four humours within the human body, where an excess of black bile caused depression-like symptoms of sadness and sluggish, lethargic behavior. [7]
Though disability was present throughout the Middle Ages, very few cases were documented during the Early and High Medieval periods, as few physicians could properly diagnose many conditions.
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, sensory, or a combination of multiple factors. Disabilities can be present from birth or can be acquired during a person's lifetime. Historically, disabilities have only been recognized based on a narrow set of criteria—however, disabilities are not binary and can be present in unique characteristics depending on the individual. A disability may be readily visible, or invisible in nature.
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. M. leprae, the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Africa through the Middle East, Europe, and Asia by the 5th century before reaching the rest of the world more recently. Historically, leprosy was believed to be extremely contagious and divinely ordained, leading to enormous stigma against its sufferers. Other severe skin diseases were frequently conflated with leprosy and all such sufferers were kept away from the general public, although some religious orders provided medical care and treatment. Recent research has shown M. leprae has maintained a similarly virulent genome over at least the last thousand years, leaving it unclear which precise factors led to leprosy's near elimination in Europe by 1700. A growing number of cases following the first wave of European colonization, however, led to increased attention towards leprosy during the New Imperialism of the late 19th century. Following G.A. Hansen's discovery of the role of M. leprae in the disease, the First International Leprosy Conference held in Berlin in 1897 renewed interest and investment in the isolation of lepers throughout the European colonial empires. Although Western countries now generally treat cases of leprosy individually on an outpatient basis, traditional isolated colonies continue to exist in India, China, and some other countries.
In the Middle Ages, the medicine of Western Europe was composed of a mixture of existing ideas from antiquity. In the Early Middle Ages, following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, standard medical knowledge was based chiefly upon surviving Greek and Roman texts, preserved in monasteries and elsewhere. Medieval medicine is widely misunderstood, thought of as a uniform attitude composed of placing hopes in the church and God to heal all sicknesses, while sickness itself exists as a product of destiny, sin, and astral influences as physical causes. On the other hand, medieval medicine, especially in the second half of the medieval period, became a formal body of theoretical knowledge and was institutionalized in the universities. Medieval medicine attributed illnesses, and disease, not to sinful behaviour, but to natural causes, and sin was connected to illness only in a more general sense of the view that disease manifested in humanity as a result of its fallen state from God. Medieval medicine also recognized that illnesses spread from person to person, that certain lifestyles may cause ill health, and some people have a greater predisposition towards bad health than others.
The social model of disability identifies systemic barriers, derogatory attitudes, and social exclusion, which make it difficult or impossible for disabled people to attain their valued functionings. The social model of disability diverges from the dominant medical model of disability, which is a functional analysis of the body as a machine to be fixed in order to conform with normative values. While physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychological variations may result in individual functional differences, these do not necessarily have to lead to disability unless society fails to take account of and include people intentionally with respect to their individual needs. The origin of the approach can be traced to the 1960s, and the specific term emerged from the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
Disability studies is an academic discipline that examines the meaning, nature, and consequences of disability. Initially, the field focused on the division between "impairment" and "disability", where impairment was an impairment of an individual's mind or body, while disability was considered a social construct. This premise gave rise to two distinct models of disability: the social and medical models of disability. In 1999 the social model was universally accepted as the model preferred by the field. However, in recent years, the division between the social and medical models has been challenged. Additionally, there has been an increased focus on interdisciplinary research. For example, recent investigations suggest using "cross-sectional markers of stratification" may help provide new insights on the non-random distribution of risk factors capable of acerbating disablement processes.
Holy Communion, also known as the Eucharist and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches. The elements of the rite are sacramental bread and wine.
Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason is an examination by Michel Foucault of the evolution of the meaning of madness in the cultures and laws, politics, philosophy, and medicine of Europe—from the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th century—and a critique of the idea of history and of the historical method.
Islamic psychology or ʿilm al-nafs, the science of the nafs, is the medical and philosophical study of the psyche from an Islamic perspective and addresses topics in psychology, neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and psychiatry as well as psychosomatic medicine. In Islam, mental health and mental illness were viewed with a holistic approach. This approach emphasized the mutual connection between maintaining adequate mental wellbeing and good physical health in an individual. People who practice Islam thought it was necessary to maintain positive mental health in order to partake in prayer and other religious obligations.
Leprosy stigma is a type of social stigma, a strong negative feeling towards a person with leprosy relating to their moral status in society. It is also referred to as leprosy-related stigma, leprostigma, and stigma of leprosy. Since ancient times, leprosy instilled the practice of fear and avoidance in many societies because of the associated physical disfigurement and lack of understanding behind its cause. Because of the historical trauma the word "leprosy" invokes, the disease is now referred to as Hansen's disease, named after Gerhard Armauer Hansen who discovered Mycobacterium leprae, the bacterial agent that causes Hansen's disease. Those who have suffered from Hansen's disease describe the impact of social stigma as far worse than the physical manifestations despite it being only mildly contagious and pharmacologically curable. This sentiment is echoed by Weis and Ramakrishna, who noted that "the impact of the meaning of the disease may be a greater source of suffering than symptoms of the disease".
The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
Disability abuse is when a person with a disability is abused physically, financially, sexually and/or psychologically due to the person having a disability. This type of abuse has also been considered a hate crime. The abuse is not limited to those who are visibly disabled or physically deformed, but also includes those with learning, intellectual and developmental disabilities or mental illnesses.
Disability hate crime is a form of hate crime involving the use of violence against people with disabilities. This is not only violence in a physical sense, but also includes other hostile acts, such as the repeated blocking of disabled access and verbal abuse. These hate crimes are associated with prejudice against a disability, or a denial of equal rights for disabled people. It is viewed politically as an extreme form of ableism, or disablism. This phenomenon can take many forms, from verbal abuse and intimidatory behaviour to vandalism, assault, or even murder. Although data are limited studies appear to show that verbal abuse and harassment are the most common. Disability hate crimes may take the form of one-off incidents, or may represent systematic abuse which continues over periods of weeks, months, or even years. Disabled parking places, wheelchair access areas and other facilities are frequently a locus for disability hate. Instead of seeing access areas as essential for equity, they are seen instead as 'special treatment', unjustifiable by status, and so a 'reason' for acting aggressively. Denial of access thus demonstrates a prejudice against equal rights for disabled people; such actions risk actual bodily harm as well as limiting personal freedom.
Ableism is discrimination and social prejudice against people with physical or mental disabilities. Ableism characterizes people as they are defined by their disabilities and it also classifies disabled people as people who are inferior to non-disabled people. On this basis, people are assigned or denied certain perceived abilities, skills, or character orientations.
The overall prevalence of people with disabilities is 4.52% of the population, i.e., 63.28 million, according to the ICMR's publication from the NFHS-5 survey 2019-21. India is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Legislation that affects people with disabilities in India includes the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the Mental Health Care Act, 2017, the National Trust Act, 1999, and the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992. People with disabilities in India are faced with negative social attitudes in the wider population.
The intersection of disability and religion concerns the manner in which disabled people are treated within religious communities, the religious texts of those religions, or the general input from religious discourse on matters relating to disability. Studies on the relationship between religion and disability vary widely, with some postulating the existence of ableism and others viewing religion as a primary medium through which to assist disabled people. Religious exhortation often prompts adherents to treat people with disabilities with deference, however when the disability constitutes a mental illness such an approach may be slanted with an acknowledgement of the latter's naivete. In religions with an eschatological belief in divine judgment, there are often traditions promulgating an exemption from judgement in the afterlife for mentally disabled people, as well as for children who die before reaching maturity due to both lacking an understanding of their actions in a manner analogous to the insanity defense. Regarding the rationale behind God's creation of disabled people, some religions maintain that their contrast with the non-disabled permits the non-disabled to reflect and God to subsequently assess the level of gratitude shown by each individual for their health.
People with disabilities in Togo face many unique challenges. Disability in Togo is often seen as a curse or sign of witchcraft, leading to poor outcomes for people with disabilities. Accessibility in the country is lacking. However, Togo has signed onto the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and has created plans to encourage greater inclusion for people with disabilities in the country.
Disability justice is a social justice movement which focuses on examining disability and ableism as they relate to other forms of oppression and identity such as race, class and gender. It was developed in 2005 by the Disability Justice Collective, a group including Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, Stacey Milbern, Leroy F. Moore Jr., and Eli Clare. In disability justice, disability is not considered to be defined in "white terms, or male terms, or straight terms." The movement also believes that ableism makes other forms of prejudice possible and that systems of oppression are intertwined. The disability justice framework is being applied to a intersectional reexamination of a wide range of disability, human rights, and justice movements.
Ancient Romans with disabilities were recorded in the personal, medical, and legal writing of the period. While some disabled people were sought as slaves, others with disabilities that are now recognized by modern medicine were not considered disabled. Some disabilities were deemed more acceptable than others, either as honorable characteristics or as traits that increased morality. Small, scattered medical references contain the only direct acknowledgments of disability.
It is estimated that about 9 percent of American slaves were disabled on the eve of the Emancipation Proclamation due to some type of physical, sensory, psychological, neurological, or developmental condition. This means that roughly 360,000 to 540,000 American slaves had a disability. In the antebellum age, slaves were described as disabled if their injury or condition prevented them from performing labor, such as blindness, deafness, loss of limbs, and even infertility. Since disabled slaves could not fend for themselves or perform the normal types of slave labor, they usually depended on their masters and mothers to take care of them. In terms of labor, disabled slaves usually found themselves working in the kitchen or in nurseries. Since they could not work as fast as able slaves, disabled slaves were often subject to harsh treatment that included weapons. Often, slave owners would sell off their disabled slaves to doctors who would then perform medical experiments on them. After slavery ended, disabled slaves mostly remained on plantations until the government was able to set up hospitals and asylums to house them.
