Children Born with Disabilities in Europe

For my blog, I am going to talk about the issues related to children who are born with disabilities in the early capitialism era. From the very begining of history, people with disabilities have been ostracized, rejected, and discriminated against in society.(Romel W. Mackelprang and Richard O. Salsgiver 1994)

From my research I have concluded that there is a lot of history behind this issue.

In ancient times, Neolithic tribes thought people with disabilities were possed by spirits and full of evil. They would drill holes in the skulls and let the evil spirits out. The Spartans, abandoned young and old people with disabilities in the countryside to die. Plato (western culture) viewed people with disabilities as standing in the way of a perfect world.  "the offspring of the inferior, or of the better when they chance to be deformed, will be put away in some mysterious, unknown place, as they should " The Greeks and the romans abandoned disabled or deformed children to die. The only exception was they believed they would demeonstrate thanks by not rioting in their communities..(Romel W. Mackelprang and Richard O. Salsgiver)

There are many more different beliefs about disabled children and adults, each evolving throughout the centuries. By the mid 1770s, a new perspective was making its impact on Europeans and Americans. There was an idea that maybe humans could be perfected. Within this environment, treatment began to emerge that defined people with disabilities by their biological inadequacies. In the United States, institutions dedicated to perfecting the imperfect sprang up with the hope that professional intervention could cure those inadequacies. When a cure was not possible, people with disabilities could at least be trained to become functional enough to "perform socially or vocationally in an acceptable manner.(Romel W. Mackelprang and Richard O. Salsgiver)

Now a days, in Canada we have a lot of options out their for children suffering with dissabilities. They can attend an organized school related to their disabilities, we have teachers assistance, government related programs to offer assistance, and also free health care. Unfortunatly, in the Early Capitalism Era they did not have the same assistance and knowlege as we do today. They were treated as if they meant nothing, and certain rules were set out. They could not get married, reproduce and have a family. This goes to show how much our world has gained intellegence and acceptance of children and adults living with disabilities.

-Meri-Beth

　
References:

People with Disabilities and Social Work: Historical and Contemporary Issues: Romel W. Mackelprang and Richard O. Salsgiver 1994

Recieved from: http://sw.oxfordjournals.org.libproxy.auc.ca/content/41/1/7.short

Industrialization and The Age of Child Labour

Today, children are expected to go to school, play and develop their skills. This modern reality is a far cry from what children experienced in the work houses and factories in the 17th to the late 19th century.

Industrialization brought many changes to the way Europeans lived. Thousands of people moved from the farmlands that had sustained their families for generations, to the city to work in factories. This movement created a class of working poor. English poor laws forced people living in poverty to live and work in work houses. Families could not support themselves on the income of one parent. Children were expected to work to help feed and house their families. Child labour was important during industrialization to aid in mass production. After famines and widespread disease killed off much of the adult workforce making children a valuable asset to families so they could make money and for factory owners who needed cheap labour. Children were particularly useful the manufacturing of textiles as well as mining. Two thirds of workers in textile manufacturing sectors were children and a quarter of the mining labour force was also children. (Humphries, 176-177).

Many of the children who made up the labour force were orphaned or abandoned. Children were overworked, undereducated, and undertrained. Their health was of very little concern to many parents and business owners (178-184).  Many parents did not want their children working in textile factories so owners had to find new ways of finding children to work for little wages. They bought children from orphanages and workhouses. Working children were often called pauper apprentices (Workhouse Children). Children lived in miserable conditions and often worked more than 12 hours a day. They were often beaten for being late, which was a common occurrence because many poor people could not afford clocks or watches. Wages were also deducted for lateness, a harsh penalty for workers making a penny an hour (Working Hours).

Sexual and physical abuse was rampant in workhouses and factories. Children were beaten for working too slowly, and if they were too tired to work efficiently, they were dunked head first into water tanks and forced to work soaking wet and cold. If children worked too slowly for the machines, their hands and fingers often got caught and skinned, bruised or even amputated.  If children ran away they were sent to jail. Children who were considered to be at risk of running away were shackled while they worked and slept. Young women and girls were shackled around their ankles and waist and kept nearly naked even in the coldest months.  Many children, especially girls, were beaten until they died. Often, children acquired mental and psychological issues from abuse (Punishment in Factories).

The children who worked in these early workhouses lived miserable difficult lives that left them scared emotionally and physically. They were not relieved from a life of poverty as the government intended, but usually ended up on the street and in workhouses as adults. This system of forcing the “undeserving poor” to work was discriminatory and degrading. Modern workfare also discriminates and strips people of their dignity. We can trace this back people’s disinterest in paying taxes to support people who were “too lazy” to work, which is a common opinion of people on social assistance today. As social workers, we need to find a way to break down the stigma of using  a social assistance program because many of us have benefitted from one or another at some point in our lives. People need to be educated on the many factors that can cause poverty and the oppressive policies of many government programs that keep people in poverty. Looking at the workhouses of Europe during the early stages of industrialization, starting at the “bottom” or with children could be the key to social change.

Morgan

References:

Humphries, Jane. (2003). Child Labor: Lessons from the Historical Experience of Today's Industrial Economies. The World Bank Economic Review, vol. 17, No 2 175-176. doi: 10.1093/wber/lhg016

Punishment in Factories. (n.d.). Spartacus Educational. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpunishments.htm

Workhouse Children. (n.d.). Spartacus Educational. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRworkhouse.children.htm

Working Hours. (n.d.). Spartacus Educational. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRtime.htm

Work and Injury in Europe

In my blog post I am going to talk about work and disability within the European mercantile era. As workers, people with disability were able to work and were also beginning to gain more rights. The term disability can be defined in many different ways especially throughout the past and the present. Today’s society has generally stereotyped us to think of a person who has to use a wheelchair, while in the past, disability could range from mental illness, general sickness, disease and those who were cripple.

I found an article that explains the recent progress in European countries in workmen’s compensation, including those who are injured, sick or disabled. Two of the first main industries were navigation and mining which were very dangerous and if the employer were to be seriously injured “the law required the owner of the undertaking to provide in advance a special fund from which the benefits for this purpose were paid” (Harris, 1911, pg. 246). In the thirties the railroad industry was introduced, and insurance policies were in order, as a small sum of money would be taken from the wages of the employers to cover any kind of injury that may occur on the job.

“The plan of compensating industrial accidents by determining who was at fault and assessing the cost on the negligent party, has never applied to all industries, and in fact has long been discarded in those industries which most closely resemble the industries of the present day” (Harris, 1911, pg.248). Furthermore, in this era, those who were of dis-advantage, were almost at an advantage because they maintained many benefits in comparison to those who were on welfare or could not find work.

Therefore in conclusion, those of disability in the mercantile era were not at a total loss in comparison to others. Many employer’s who were injured on the job causing them not to be able to work, had many benefits. In comparison to our society today, it is almost the same, as these peoples have many benefits but are discriminated when it comes to work. “The simplest, and most frequently answered questions posed to the welfare state concern the nature and extent of the benefits now won by the disadvantaged” (Baldwin, 1990). 

Baldwin, P. (1990). The Politics of Social Solidarity. Cambridge, UK: Press Syndicate of University of Cambridge.

Harris, H. J. (1911). Recent Progress in European Countries in Workmen's Compensation. Annals of the American Academy and Political Social Science, 38(1), 246-256. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Alysha 

Health and Disease in Pre-Columbian North America

            For the blog I decided to look at Native-Americans and disabilities that they faced. If you had lived in North America in the 15^th to 16^th centuries you were living in the pre-Columbian era.  A time before Europeans had settled, there were a group of peoples living there. These people are the Native-Americans, and in like all living things and humans there are disease and health issues throughout a population. Some of the problems are similar in different cultures or parts of the world, and some may only be familiar with the Native-Americans, but regardless they exist.  I found two scholarly sources that talked about the health and disease that existed within the Native-American population during this time and the causes of it. 

            The first Columbian voyages made to North America have been very deadly to the Native Americans that inhabited that land at the time. The Native-Americans had lived life in a way and dealt with whatever death, disease and sickness they had. When the Europeans came in the early 15^th century, for a just a ‘visit’ they brought very different types of diseases to these people and therefore they had no idea how to protect themselves from it and had no remedies for those who did catch it (Ramenofsky, 2003). These diseases would include different viruses, bacteria, and even some parasites. But even before the Europeans brought these diseases upon the Native-Americans they had already suffered from Tuberculosis (infectious lung disease) and epidemic syphilis (widespread sexually transmitted disease)(Steckel, 2005). Although tuberculosis is a killer and syphilis if not treated can also kill you, this was the only main worry that the Native-Americans had to deal with at the time. When the Europeans came they brought many more horrors that lead to many more mass deaths.

            Reading about this made me really think about how the Europeans made a very hard life for the Native-Americans, in more ways than one. Not only did the Europeans take them and put them in residential camps, but they had started out by giving them tons of diseases that they had never had before. They had taken away their freedom and health and gave them nothing but disease and sadness, then abandoned them without any further words or assistance. What happened to them back in the 15^th century was repeated a long time after but in a different way. I can see a very nice pattern in how Europeans treated Native-Americans, and even to some point still treat. The Native-Americans deserve so much from this.

            Overall there was more harm done and more diseases spread when the Europeans first came to find the mysterious land of American than before. Then when the Europeans came back, like we learned about in class, even more damage was done. They were stripped of rights, put into residential schools and basically dehumanized. Damage that will take a lot of time before healing and forgiveness will be given out. Although these two things happened far apart in different eras they are very similar and are easily relatable, and it is very unfortunate to write about.

            

By: Chelsea L

 

Ramenofsky, A. (2003). Archaeology of Epidemic and Infectious Disease. Native American disease history: past, present and future directions, 35 (2), 241-257.

Steckel, R.H. (2005). Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XXXVI: I. Health and Nutrition in Pre-Columbian America: The Skeletal Evidence, 36 (1), 1-32.

Diabilities addressed in an annishabe community.

Since the contact of the europeans the people have deal with extreme social disadvantage. Aboriginals with disabilities prior to colonization were treated no different than other members of the group.  People that were affected were cared for by extended family members but were still held to maintain certain responsibilities and social roles.

In an aboriginal community the perception of disability is very different from a western view. By continuing to keep the person affected by the disability engaged and continuously help to certain roles the person would not feel as though they were unable. The person affected by a disability was not separated from the community it brought them together as a whole able bodied community. Between aboriginal communities and western communities there is a huge difference in the term disability. This term is less known in aboriginal community then in the western community. In many aboriginal communities there were beliefs that were the cause of disability and many reasons that they thought affected a person with the disability. The disability  was thought to be a cause of another thing, not something that could happen naturally. It dealt with culture and myths but  these reasons that were believed were not held against the family and the special person was welcomed and helped.

It was found that aboriginal people were more accepting of family members with disabilities than non-aboriginal people. In the aboriginal culture they have a natural way to include everyone in the community, and even embacing the person with the disability as though they were able bodied like the rest. Aboriginal people have a way of seeing past disability and including everyone no matter what their impairment is.  Aboriginal people see their culture first then see the disability, This concept is very different then in the western culture.

 The social issues that deal around disability in an aboriginal community is not seen as a disadvantage but as a gift. Each member no matter what the issue that affects them is fully included in each aspect of community. The western cultures however are less accepting of a person with disabilities, a person in the western culture is seen to be a burden or incapable. The aboriginal community has shown that they are polar opposite to the europeans and even after colonization have changed little in the ways they see members in their community no matter their disability.

Trista, social work 1006A

Source : Http://www.disability.wa.gov.au
 "Aboriginal People with Disabilities." http://www.disability.wa.gov.au. Disability Services Commission, Apr. 2006. Web.

Transportation in the European Society

Blogging Assignment #1

Hunter

October 14^th 2012

        

         Disability is defined as: A physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities. As for my first blogging assignment I will be focusing on the limitations a person with a disability has, that makes them have a much more difficult time within ‘transportation’. I chose a book that focused on Europe in the Medieval Ages that dealt with the impairment of people. This booked titled: “Disability in Medieval Europe: Thinking about physical impairment during the high Middle Ages, c.1100-1400”. The European society had difficulty transporting people with disabilities because they didn’t have any of the technology that we have today. It is much easier for disabled people to get around because we have so many things to help them. We have buses just for people with wheelchairs, ramps, elevators, cars with installed places for wheelchairs and much more. Back in the European society, they didn’t have any of this. To get a disabled person from one place to another they had a much harder time – and it wasn’t easy or safe. It was such a hassle for them because they could never be independent because they always had to depend on someone to help them. So now we wonder, how did disabled people really get around before, and what were some of their troubles?

         In the European society they had multiple ways to get a disabled person from one place to another. They mainly used their methods of transportation that they already did have and would work with it. Since the wheelchair was not invented yet, lower class people would use sticks or as we would call them crutches (Metzler 172). The sticks they used were legitimate sticks that were uncomfortable, and unsafe. You would then have people who would carry the disabled person from one place to another. They would physically carry them, put them on a pallet, in a box, chest, and even a basket (Metzler 170). If a friend or relative had a horse and buggy/basket they would allow them to ride with them in that as well. Some of the disabled people were treated poorly, leaving them to be strapped on a horse like a “sack of potatoes” (Metzler, 227). Also another way disabled people got from place to place was by pilgrims. Lastly, the pilgrims would get paid a penny or more to carry a disabled person to their destination (Metzler, 170).

         In class we learned that pilgrims were on the lower class scale and they would work for the lord and get paid pennies. They were like little slaves that pretty much did all the dirty work and had little, but some rights for certain things such as land. This connects to the book because the Pilgrims also got the “yucky job” of carrying around disabled people. The pilgrims would be hired by someone and would get paid a penny or more to carry the disabled person from one place to another (Metzler, 170). Another way it relates is that in class we were discussing Feudalism and the scale that went along with Feudalism. You had:

1)   The King

2)   Nobility

3)   Knights

4)   Vassals

Depending on where you landed on this social structure determined how, you as a disabled person, got from one destination to another. If you were on the lower class scale you more than likely got carried by a friend or relative, and sometimes if that friend or relative had a horse and buggy they would allow you to ride in it (Metzler, 170). If they did not, they would literally have to carry the disabled person from one place to another. Usually the lower class people would have less money so they had to work with what they had (Metzler 169,170). Where upper class people who did have money could hire a pilgrim and let them be responsible for getting the disabled person from one place to another (Metzler 169,170).

         Even though much has changed from the Medieval times to our present times, we can still connect a similarity. People who are disabled in present life still have troubles with transportation. Even though we have safer and more variety for transportation, they are still a lot of the times inaccessible. Coach buses and airplanes are two prime examples (Bendall,Howman, 163). I feel as if we will always have trouble with transporting people with disabilities because it seems like “such a hassle” to everyone. It also doesn’t help that in the Medieval times they thought as disabled babies were from the devil (Metzler, 62). These babies more than likely didn’t get cared for as they were supposed to, so transportation probably wasn’t really an “important” thing to people living in the Medieval era.

         In conclusion, disabled people who lived in the middle Ages had a tough time getting around due to the lack of having proper ways of transportation for them. They had to work with what they had to get a disabled person to their destination. As of today it is much easier for disabled people to get around and they can feel a sense of dependence. We now have new technology such as wheelchairs and crutches that are specifically designed for disabled people. We still use the “base way” of their means of transportation, we have just upgraded from “horse and buggy” to motorized vehicles. Over the years we have developed new and safe technology for the people with disabilities to make their life a little simpler.

        

Metzler, I. (2006). Disability in Medieval Europe. Retrieved from

            http://books.google.ca/books?id=alRZIEijOtgC&printsec=

            frontcover#v=snipper&q=transportation&f=false

Bendall, Mark., Howman, Brian. (2006). Decoding Discrimination. Retrieved from

http://books.google.ca/books?     

 hl=en&lr=&id=K0fjEAX_65QC&oi=fnd&pg=PA148&dq=Medieval+Europe+%2B+Transport+%2B+Disability&ots=3_Y6-FJnxh&sig=Ti-ZM70-lx8dXUsXJ0y-DbS8Rus#v=onepage&q=Medieval&f=false