trouble: FONSFAQ: Disability History

trouble (

trouble) wrote,
@ 2011-04-20 06:11 pm UTC

Entry tags:

FONSFAQ: Disability History

A bunch of awesome people I know are doing Three Weeks for Dreamwidth where they are accepting prompts and will write answers to questions about their topics. This started with

dingsi. There is a master list!

(FONSFAQ: Frequently (Or Not So Frequently) Asked Question)

I thought I would love to be asked (and answer) questions about disability history! Because I love it like ice cream.

(In fact, you'd be doing me a huge favour by asking these questions. Don & I are playing around with an idea about a disability history related podcast this summer, and having some idea what people might be interested in knowing would be helpful.)

Things I do not know the answers to easily, I will happily research.

Please leave prompts! Preferred style would be PROMPT in the subject heading of the comment, but don't fret the details. Also, please feel free to signal boost this, as I would love an excuse to talk about my interests with everyone in the world. All the time. (Also, feel free to leave multiple prompts.)

check out Dingsi's prompt page for more ideas.

ETA: I forgot to tell people that they are welcome to claim and write about any of these! Please don't take my comments as claiming them for just me. It's a huge field, and I would love to see other people's responses. :D

(33 comments) - (Post a new comment)
(Flat) (Top-level comments only)

	PROMPT meloukhia 2011-04-20 09:13 pm UTC (link)
	Can you pretty please with ice cream on top talk about unsung 19th century disability heroes? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	Re: PROMPT trouble 2011-04-20 09:20 pm UTC (link)
	They may end up mostly being in North America and France. Is that okay? (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	Re: PROMPT meloukhia 2011-04-20 10:01 pm UTC (link)
	Yes! Although I would not be averse to multiple fills of this prompt from other places... (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject marina 2011-04-20 09:25 pm UTC (link)
	Your top 5 favorite anecdotes from disability history, as a historian? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject trouble 2011-04-20 09:27 pm UTC (link)
	Oooh! :D Thank you! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

PROMPT

puzzlement
2011-04-20 11:13 pm UTC (link)

(Note: I don't have personal or career disability expertise, historical or otherwise. But perhaps this is useful input for what the more 101 end of your podcast listeners could be interested in. It's entirely possible that you have blogged some or all of these before!)

1. What are some examples of disability-centred approaches/community structures/rhetoric from historical times/places that you wish 21st century North America and culturally similar communities would re-implement?

2. What's an area of disability history studies that is really cool and amazing that you would be spending every possible second on, if you didn't already have an area/topic?

3. What are the top 1 or 2 books or journal articles in your area (or that from #2) that you think would be accessible to non-specialists and fairly self-contained?

(Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	Re: PROMPT jesse_the_k 2011-04-21 01:54 am UTC (link)
	(not trouble, but I'm admiring your prompts!) (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	Re: PROMPT trouble 2011-04-21 02:31 am UTC (link)
	yay! I think I have some answers for this! Thank you! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject avendya 2011-04-21 12:17 am UTC (link)
	What was the conception of disability like before the medical model (as I don't imagine the medical model is older than, say, germ theory)? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject trouble 2011-04-21 02:30 am UTC (link)
	I will ponder this! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

PROMPT: Revisionism Redux

jesse_the_k
2011-04-21 02:02 am UTC (link)

Are there developments or power structures or institutions that have been through more than one revisionist understanding? The example I can bring to mind is the handling of mental illness: the first institutional models were oriented around punishment; then the moral models; then the psuedo-scientific poke-it-hard era of psychosurgery, insulin shock, ice baths, ECT; now the psuedo-scientific drug-it-hard + deinstitutionalization.

Do the enactors of these different approaches maintain ignorance of their histories? Is every new thing The Best Thing Ever, pushing the past into an oubliette somewhere?

(Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	Re: PROMPT: Revisionism Redux trouble 2011-04-21 02:30 am UTC (link)
	Hmm. I think I have stuff on that in my brain. :D (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	PROMPT bell 2011-04-21 02:09 am UTC (link)
	Reflections on how the laws for disabled persons have developed differently in assorted countries would be totes awesome. :D (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	Re: PROMPT trouble 2011-04-21 02:30 am UTC (link)
	I will reflect on this! :D (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject verity 2011-04-21 02:28 am UTC (link)
	Do you know about the history of asylum design/architecture in Canada/Nova Scotia during 1850-1900? If, so, tell me! I am curious to how it compares to the US. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject trouble 2011-04-21 02:29 am UTC (link)
	Oh my gosh, do I. Future Thesis Adviser wrote a book about it! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject lilacsigil 2011-04-21 03:27 am UTC (link)
	Disability history is often presented by journalists as a shiny "And things were terrible in the past but now they're awesome!" What, if anything, do you think was actually better in the past, in the lives of disabled people, the dominant medical treatments or philosophies, or institutionally? Any time frame you like! (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject trouble 2011-04-21 03:29 am UTC (link)
	Ooh, thank you! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject awils1 2011-04-21 05:07 am UTC (link)
	A podcast would be awesome. AWESOME I SAY. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject trouble 2011-04-28 07:44 am UTC (link)
	I'm really anxious about whether or not it will ever go beyond the idea stage. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

no subject

magdala
2011-04-21 07:23 am UTC (link)

Medical records follow us everywhere, here. One of the things that freaks me out and prevents me from, I don’t know, accessing healthcare is the fact that forms inevitably require me to list diagnoses of mental conditions with a higher chance of having my applications rejected (no anti-discrimination laws here). On the other hand, I know good record-keeping is essential for continuity in healthcare provision. So, what are your thoughts on records?

[Awesome topic, by the way! I’m really looking forward to the posts that come out of this.]

(Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject trouble 2011-04-28 07:44 am UTC (link)
	I have many thoughts on records! I shall do my best! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

Prompt!

tea
2011-04-21 03:26 pm UTC (link)

As a non-historian, I'd love to know something about the process of studying disability history. Are there resources that are particularly important to you as a disability historian? Are there particular challenges to the study of the history of disability? Are there modern biases in or against the field itself? How does Canada fare in terms of funding and job opportunities for academics in the field vs. other countries?

Somewhat related, how does your study of the history of disability interact with your modern activism/involvement with/experiences of disability? I imagine there's no way understanding disability history can NOT be useful to modern legislation re access and discrimination, but do you have any specific examples as to how we can 'learn from the past'?

(Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	Re: Prompt! trouble 2011-04-28 07:44 am UTC (link)
	I am really looking forward to answering this. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

Prompt: schoolchildren

elf
2011-04-24 03:50 am UTC (link)

How has the treatment of school-aged children with disabilities changed over time? Improved? Worsened in spots?

Optional/potential tangential bits: What were some of the worst methods inflicted on children, and what finally made them change? Why were they used in the first place? Are any of the worst methods still used? What kinds of differences existed between public schools & private schools? Between physical & mental/emotional disabilities? (How) Have media portrayals of disabilities affected how children with disabilities are treated?

(Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	Re: Prompt: schoolchildren trouble 2011-04-28 07:43 am UTC (link)
	Oh Elf, you just asked me about my thesis. :D (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject vacillating 2011-04-24 01:00 pm UTC (link)
	To what extent can we trace the history of particular illnesses/disabilities, given the instability of diagnostic methods and concepts through time? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject trouble 2011-04-28 07:43 am UTC (link)
	That is an excellent question! I may have an answer to it. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	Prompt: Asylums. lilmoka 2011-04-24 02:46 pm UTC (link)
	I'd love to hear about psychiatric hospitals in the last two centuries. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	Re: Prompt: Asylums. trouble 2011-04-28 07:43 am UTC (link)
	Hmm. If I stick to Canada, will that be okay? (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	Re: Prompt: Asylums. lilmoka 2011-04-28 08:42 am UTC (link)
	Of course! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	PROMPT: insurance industry lizcommotion 2011-04-28 03:36 am UTC (link)
	How did the insurance industry develop? When did it start becoming common practice for employers to offer health insurance? This is kind of US-centered, but I'm interested in whatever knowledge you have of other places in the globe, too. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	Re: PROMPT: insurance industry trouble 2011-04-28 07:43 am UTC (link)
	The insurance industry is actually really interesting historically because it comes out of mutual aid societies in the US & Canada. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

(33 comments) - (Post a new comment)
(Flat) (Top-level comments only)

FONSFAQ: Disability History

PROMPT

Re: PROMPT

Re: PROMPT

no subject

no subject

PROMPT

Re: PROMPT

Re: PROMPT

no subject

no subject

PROMPT: Revisionism Redux

Re: PROMPT: Revisionism Redux

PROMPT

Re: PROMPT

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Prompt!

Re: Prompt!

Prompt: schoolchildren

Re: Prompt: schoolchildren

no subject

no subject

Prompt: Asylums.

Re: Prompt: Asylums.

Re: Prompt: Asylums.

PROMPT: insurance industry

Re: PROMPT: insurance industry