Abstract
The growing academic interest in the history of disability, both in Scandinavia and internationally, is strongly linked to the political disability movement and its need to face present and future struggles for independence, equality and citizenship by constructing a new history of disability. Another origin of interest is more genuinely academic, with increasing awareness among scholars in various disciplines of how boundary work in relation to concepts of normalcy, deviance and disability may function as a powerful tool in historical analyses. A third point of departure for historical research on disability may be labelled “skeleton research” aroused by media revelations of past social practices, which are now seen as abusive and repressive. This paper argues that by adding an international historical context of comparison to the field of disability research, new theoretical perspectives on disability studies in general are offered, supporting the idea of applying disability as a theoretical tool for analysis along with race, gender, age and class. As a first and explorative effort at trying to introduce the Scandinavian case to the international scene of history of disability the number of examples given will be limited, and attempts at analyses will be tentative and fairly approximate.
Highlights
The growing academic interest in the history of disability, both in Scandinavia and internationally, is strongly linked to the political disability movement and its need to face present and future struggles for independence, equality and citizenship by constructing a new history of disability
‘‘The Scandinavian model’’ or ‘‘the Nordic dimension’’ are concepts used fairly often to identify the character of the Nordic welfare states, our educational system and our disability policies at the present time as diverse from other countries in the Western hemisphere
The articles on history of disability presented in this specific volume of Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research
Summary
Academic interest has gradually become another source of interest in disability history, with historical analyses of how deviance or ‘‘otherness’’ has been constructed as disability as a main driving force. Skeleton Research as the Origin of Academic Research in History of Disability ‘‘Skeleton research’’ Á/ is a term to be used for research occurred by accusations of past oppression, abuse or neglect of minority groups or people in vulnerable positions. These accusations have often been voiced by mass media with their own agenda of creating sensation and scandals, resulting in massive political pressure for investigations and research. Among the accusations towards the past were the stigmatization of the children and their mothers when they were diagnosed generally as genetically inferior and ‘‘feebleminded’’ by leading psychiatrists of the time, creating the children as a new and problematic social category in Norwegian society (Ericsson & Simonsen 2005)
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