Imagining Disability in the Long Eighteenth Century: Representations of Impairment in England c.1660-c.1830

'Imagining Disability in the Long Eighteenth Century' examines the ways in which physical impairment was defined, understood and discussed in England between 1660 and 1830. Disability history has developed over the past decade to show that meanings of impairment are not biologically determined but subject to change over time. Yet much of this research is focused on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and traces the historical roots of the barriers faced by disabled people in the present to citizenship. Research on disability before 1800 tends to focus on its more 'freakish' aspects, such as broadside accounts of 'monstrous births', rather than its more common manifestations. Furthermore, existing histories of disability are generally founded on institutional and top-down histories of what was done to disabled people; little is known about the experience of disability in history. Despite the view that the period from the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries witnessed significant changes both in the treatment of disabled people and in social perceptions of disability, the era has not yet received detailed historical attention. 'Imagining Disability' seeks to make good this neglect, analysing cultural representations of disability and the testimonies of disabled people themselves to explore the meanings of impairment in this period.

The principal output of the project will be a monograph that provides the first book-length study of physical impairment in this period. Cultural meanings of disability will be explored via a diverse range of sources, from sermons and medical texts to jokes, newspapers and prints. The book also examines how disabled men and women drew on these representations in making sense of their own experiences via analyses of elite memoirs and letters and a variety of narratives produced by the disabled poor found in pauper letters, petitions and criminal court records. It challenges dominant historical assumptions about the period as one which witnessed a transformation of perceptions of disability from one based on a 'religious' model to one based on medical understanding, by showing overlap between different modes of conceptualising impairment. It also challenges the accepted picture of the eighteenth century as a time insensitive and ill-adapted to bodily disability, contributing to wider discussions about Enlightenment society.

The research is of contemporary as well as historical importance. It makes an important contribution to the broader project of restoring disabled people to history, acting as a form of empowerment to a group that traditionally has been marginalised. Key debates about disability in the eighteenth century recur in the modern era. The public perception and treatment of disabled war veterans is a current issue in Britain as part of the wider debate about the continued viability of military intervention in Afghanistan. At the same time, concerns about 'fraudulent' claimants to disability benefits (which echo eighteenth-century diatribes against 'sham cripples' begging on the streets) have resurfaced in the British media in the context of controversy about eligibility to state welfare provision. This research has potential to make an impact on policy debates about eligibility for support by examining the historical problems of defining genuine and fake claimants to relief. It draws on historical evidence to urge policy makers not to pander to media prejudices in their perception of what is 'disabling' and in judging the legitimacy of claimants. An article aimed at communicating 'lessons from history' to policy makers will demonstrate the relevance of the research in this respect. The resulting publications will appeal to scholars of disability history, eighteenth-century social and cultural history and anyone interested in human diversity.

The principal non-academic beneficiaries of this research will be disabled people, their families, carers and allies, and policy makers concerned with disability and equality.

Disabled persons account for a substantial number of people in Britain today. Although calculations of the size of the disabled population depend on the definition of disability used, it has been estimated that there are over 11 million disabled adults in Britain, about 20% of the total population. Knowledge of the historical roles and experiences of disabled people is important for understanding processes of change and for meeting the needs of disabled people in Britain today and in the future, not just by highlighting the 'mistakes' of previous generations in their treatment of disability, but also by exploring how disabled people themselves fashioned their identities in the past and met the challenges facing them. Disability history has the potential to give a voice to a marginalised group, empowering them by giving their concerns and status historic roots. For example, the proposed research represents a departure from standard histories of physical anomaly in the pre-modern past which have customarily focused on the exotic or monstrous aspects of disability, and emphasised sources which interpreted disability as a divine punishment for sin, by showing how this was not the only paradigm through which disability was understood. By providing a more varied perspective on disability that incorporates the testimonies of disabled people themselves this research will have an impact on the ongoing construction of disabled people's lives and identities, helping to counter ingrained cultural prejudices against disability by showing that there was not an inevitable link between disability and 'freakery'.

The research has contemporary relevance as well as historical importance. The public perception and treatment of disabled war veterans is a current issue in Britain as part of the wider debate about the continued viability of military intervention in Afghanistan. At the same time, concerns about 'fraudulent' claimants to disability benefits (which echo eighteenth-century diatribes against 'sham cripples' begging on the streets) have resurfaced in the British media and this looks likely to remain an important area of policy debate over the next few years as politicians look to make cuts in public spending. This research has potential to make an impact on policy debates about eligibility for support by examining the historical problems of defining genuine and fake claimants to relief. It does so by showing that policy makers should not pander to media prejudices in their perception of what is 'disabling' and in judging the legitimacy of claimants.

The impact of the research will be achieved via effective communication of its findings to audiences of disabled people and policy makers. I am a member of the Disability History Group which exists to provide a public forum for disability research, disseminating the findings of research to an audience of academics, disabled people and caregivers via its website and conferences. Findings of research already undertaken for this project have been presented at the group's inaugural conference in 2007 and further findings will be disseminated at its conference in 2010. Press releases will publicise the research to the general public, especially to disabled groups via the disability press. In addition to the academic monograph that will be the project's key output, a shorter article will be prepared and submitted to the online journal, History and Policy, examining the issue of 'fraudulent' disability in historical perspective. This journal exists to present the findings of historical research to a wider audience of politicians and policy makers and publication here will ensure that the policy implications of the rese