ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the development of charitable services for children with orthopaedic disabilities in Ontario, Canada, during the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, and the terms 'defective' and 'crippled' were applied to these children. It examines the rise of the Canadian crippled-child-saving movement commencing in the late 19th century to the origins of the Ontario Society for Crippled Children during the early part of the 20th century. The chapter shows how this organization grew from a small community service project in Elyria Canada which in turn laid the foundation for the establishment of the International Society for Crippled Children. It traces the development of the Ontario Society for Crippled Children: its operational mandate, its ideology, the provision of care and treatment to children with orthopaedic disabilities and its connection to the International Society for Crippled Children and the service club movement.
