DOI: https://doi.org/10.36719/2663-4619/114/84-88
Shenay Ismayilova
Nakhchivan State University
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2580-6105
ismayilshenay94@icloud.com
Disability in the Western World and its Historical Phases
Abstract
In ancient times and the Middle Ages, negative perceptions and practices towards people with disabilities in the Western world continued through the Industrial Revolution and subsequent historical periods until the mid-20th century. In ancient times, attitudes towards people with disabilities were primarily characterized by fear, isolation, and even condemnation to death. However, with the onset of the Industrial Age, changing work and living conditions led to an increase in disabilities arising from work processes, resulting in the categorization of disabilities. Additionally, difficult production methods deemed people with disabilities unfit for labor, excluding them from the job market. However, with the development of capitalism and the decline in the workforce during World War I and World War II, people with disabilities and the poor began to be accepted as workers, and state-supported efforts to integrate them into the workforce continued. The difficult periods that disabled people go through has found its reflection after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Overall, the text clearly illustrates how disability has been perceived throughout history, the stages has gone through, and the changes has undergone.
Keywords: disability, Western world, approach, Disability Rights Movement