ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the north of Ireland, where 20 per cent of the population is identified as having some form of disability, which is the highest reported rate of disability in Britain. It deals with some discussion of the issues surrounding disability history–or the lack of it–in Ireland, before turning to specific examples of Irish history. By providing this brief history of blind and visually impaired persons, the chapter adds to the limited texts pertaining to disability history. In many ways the founding of the Belfast Association for the Employment of the Industrious Blind followed a pattern familiar to the period and the location. Despite the moral underpinning, the workshops' historical evidence suggests that there were clear benefits for the blind employees, as the workshops provided blind men and women with a degree of safety and security, training and a market for the goods they produced.
