Writing the history of Nordic disability and mental disorders

Abstract

This article deals with disability history in relation to the field of education and the emerging welfare states in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The Nordic countries resemble each other in many ways. Reasons for the great similarity between these countries are geographical, historical, cultural, linguistic and political, as well as a range of networks between the countries. Connections between these three countries have traditionally been very close, not least in the fields of educational and institutional practices. The object of the article is the relation between education, disability/mental disorders and the welfare state in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Historically, education as a field relates to the development of schooling, and education as a science is associated with teaching, educational systems and upbringing, this presentation links to those discourses, practices and subjects being at the limit of educational norms and practices. Drawing on the existing research, the article reports on how these discourses and practices on the history of disability, mental disorders and special education affected constructions of normality and deviance in the period 1800–1970.