Conclusion

In 1990 Michael Oliver argued that attitudes towards disability are unclear prior to the modern industrial era because ‘history is silent on the experience of disability’. ¹ Disability in Eighteenth-Century England has attempted to add to a growing number of studies aimed at breaking that silence, revealing not just that disability was a significant topic of discussion in this period, but also that disabled people were important historical actors with their own stories to tell. The starting point for this book was the view that prior to the twentieth century people with disabilities were often viewed as ‘freaks’ or ‘monsters’, living lives that were invariably devalued, and treated with widespread fear and ignorance by the general population. However, by close analysis of eighteenth-century medical and religious texts, newspapers, periodicals, and works of social commentary, conduct literature, jest books, prints, and pamphlets, a more complex picture emerges that allows us to better contextualise these ideas about disability. Despite numerous negative stereotypes, people in the eighteenth century were not necessarily ignorant or ill-adapted to understanding bodily disability. Poor law and criminal records reveal the struggles of impaired men and women and the ways in which they presented themselves in their dealings with authority. Moving beyond a history that focuses on what was done to or said about people with disabilities in the past, this book has attempted to shed light on how they saw themselves and related to others.