Random Interesting Tidbit for the day

[trouble]

I'm in the archives right now, reading one of the many many many letters written by the Superintendent of the School for the Blind.

This sentence is interesting to me re: attitudes towards disability.

"I hope you will consult an aurist at once as if this continues it is liable to cause deafness which in Tommy's case would be a great calamity."

Which I'm adding to the very tiny pile of stuff I have that implies that deafness was not considered a great calamity in Halifax at this time, but just a Thing That Could Happen, and here's how we work around it.

It's a tiny bit of stuff. I'm curious if I'll have enough to ever make that argument effectively.

Comments

[dpfesh]

Calamity! (it's a fun word to say)

Also, it's amusing to wonder if these folks would have ever thought someone would be pouring through their 'routine' mail from back in the day with such glee. tee!

[audrawilliams.livejournal.com]

Super interesting! I used to work for APSEA, do you want me to see if I can get you in there at all? I feel like they have an interesting library. But maybe it's too recent to be helpful.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Huh, that's fascinating, and definitely supports the "eh, this is fine as long as Deafness isn't layered on top of something that makes it hard to work around, like blindness.." conclusion...