Disability and difference in modern Europe and America
"A virgin nature"? Imaginings of colonization in the construction of deaf-muteness in 19th-century
Belgium
This paper will analyze the imagining of deaf-muteness and the construction of norms for “mankind”
that lay at the core of the 19th century. We will focus on a work by the Belgian doctor, Jean-Baptiste
Puybonnieux, entitled Muteness and Deafness, or the Influence of Native Deafness on Physical,
Intellectual, and Moral Faculties, published in 1846. Initially, this treatise might appear to be a
theoretical work of systematic character. It sets scientific sights, even offering a statistical
interpretation of the medical results at the close of the volume. And yet one comes to see that
Puybonnieux’s pretensions to objectivity do not imply the use of a measured, distant language. This
will lead us to consider the use of metaphors and the function of figurative meanings of deafness
and muteness in medical discourse. Through metaphor, the text presents the deaf-mute as an
unfinished being that can be driven toward possibilities yet to be discovered. Pursuing an imagining
that associates the deaf and mute with land being cultivated, the text turns into an exposition of the
isolation of the deaf and mute, particularly with regard to deaf-mutes who use a gestural language.
The narrator sees muteness as a form of exclusion, a dispossession of the deaf-mute’s humanity,
then proceeds to present deaf-muteness as territory to be conquered. According to the text, the
acquisition of language could bestow both citizenship and nationality upon the deaf mute. Such
interventions reveal the stakes put into play when comparing the difference between deaf-mutes
and the speaking with the difference between the civilized and uncivilized.
Sabine Arnaud
Research Group Director
Max Planck Institute für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Boltzmannstraße 22
The history of guide dogs for the blind: a transnational perspective
The paper offers an overview of the history of the guide dogs for the blind movement since
the foundation of the first guide dog school in the world in Oldenburg in 1916. It understands the
role of the guide dog movement as a means that contributes to the integration of blind people into
sighted society and improves their quality of life. The necessity to rehabilitate a large number of
soldiers who had lost their sight during the First World War instigated the institutionalization of
guide dog training. Initially in most countries the guide dogs were first and foremost intended as a
privilege offered to the ’heroic blind’. Positive experiences with the use of German shepherds during
the war as messenger-, rescue- and sanitary dogs provided the background for testing their
suitability as guide dogs. This necessitated the acquisition of new scientific knowledge about the
mental and physical abilities of dogs. The paper discusses the peculiarities of the guide dog
movement in Germany, the United States, Great Britain, Israel and Hungary. It reveals that different
societal and cultural attitudes to dogs, to blind people (and disabled people in general) and different
concepts of philanthropy and citizenship were all important factors that influenced the reception of
guide dogs in the respective countries. The paper also emphasizes that guide dogs not just served as
mobility aids, but also helped to overcome the psychological obstacles caused by blindness.
Dr. Monika Baár
University of Groningen
Paper proposal
Disability in the Post-World War II Era: A Short History of Spina Bifida
The purpose of this paper is to use the history of spina bifida as a lens for examining evolving
attitudes toward and experiences of disability, primarily in the United States and United Kingdom.
Spina bifida is the most common severely disabling congenital defect compatible with life. Since
World War II, significant changes have occurred in the life expectancy and quality of life of people
with spina bifida. For this reason, spina bifida provides a useful lens for examining factors that have
influenced developments in attitudes toward and experiences of disability. Those factors include
technological developments that have extended life expectancy, the emergence of neonatal
bioethics, political debates over abortion, access of children with disabilities to education, and the
emergence of a disability rights movement. A study of the history of spina bifida indicates the
profound impact of technological developments on life expectancy and quality of life, but also
highlights the importance of other factors – social, political, and philosophical – in shaping the
experience of disability.
This study is based on traditional historical methodology involving the analysis of published primary
sources, including medical and sociological studies of children and adults with spina bifida appearing
in professional journals throughout the twentieth century but especially post-World War II,
supplemented with popular press coverage of controversial events and anecdotal accounts of
personal experiences.
Lisa J. Pruitt, Ph.D. (Vanderbilt 1998)
Associate Professor of History
Middle Tennessee State University