Disability in history - York provides a unique perspective
Posted on 20 November 2006
In the first conference of its type in the UK, they will examine how perceptions and experience of disability changed from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment and how they have affected modern attitudes to disability.
Hosted by the University of York, the symposium -- Historicising Disability; the Middle Ages and After -- on 2 December, will take a wider view of Disability Studies which, to date, has focussed principally on the 19th and 20th centuries.
It will feature presentations on physical impairment and the experience of blind people in the Middle Ages, the links between disability and sainthood and wealth and immobility in Jacobean England.
There is a tremendous need both for scholars and the public to understand the varieties of disabled experience through history
Professor Wogan-Browne
The symposium has been organised by Professor Christopher Baswell, of UCLA, who is Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of York's Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS), and Professor Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Professor of Medieval Literature at CMS.
The event comes as the University of York reinforces its commitment to disability awareness with the publication of its Disability Equality Scheme. The scheme is part of the new Disability Equality Duty, a legal requirement for higher education institutions that comes into force on 4 December.
Professor Baswell said: "I first came to the UK in 1978 and the progress that's been made has been quite extraordinary and it's escalated dramatically in the last eight years.
"There are two very different but significantly related kinds of access. Physical and logistical access in the present - that also means social access. Every time a disabled person finds him or herself getting into a bus or a building through the same entrance as everyone else, you have moved a dramatic step closer to social integration."
Professor Wogan-Browne said: "There is a tremendous need both for scholars and the public to understand the varieties of disabled experience through history."
The event will take place at historic King's Manor in York city centre which, despite its antiquity, illustrates the progress the University has made in social integration of disabled people. The University has installed a range of facilities to give full access to the Grade One Star listed building which dates back to the 15th century.
The University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Felicity Riddy said: "We are working hard at York to raise disability awareness and the Historicising Disability Conference could not be more timely."
Notes to editors:
- More information on the Disability Equality Duty is available at http://www.drc.org.uk/employers_and_service_provider/disability_equality_duty.aspx
- The Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS) at the University of York was founded in 1968 in order to promote interdisciplinary research into the Middle Ages, and it is now one of the most successful teaching institutions in this field anywhere in the world. Its staff are drawn from: