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When elevators were for pianos: an oral history account of the civilian experience of using wheelchairs in Canadian society. the first twenty-five years: 1945-1970
- Authors:
- TREMBLAY Mary, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 20(2), March 2005, pp.103-116.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
In 1945 Canadian World War II veterans with spinal cord injury were among the first Canadians to have access to medical rehabilitation programmes, the Everest and Jennings folding, self-propelled wheelchair and automobiles with hand-controls. One of the authors has described how the veteran pioneers used these new opportunities to return to full participation in civilian life. Drawing on oral history and archival research, this paper examines the experiences of Canadian civilians with spinal cord injury as they tried to follow the veterans' example. It discusses the strategies these pioneers used to overcome obstacles, such as stairs and curbs, as well as providing examples of their experiences in finding housing, education and employment. The paper reviews the responses individuals received from their fellow citizens and highlights the limited recognition of architectural barriers in an era when elevators were for pianos!
No wheelchairs beyond this point: a historical examination of wheelchair access in the Twentieth Century in Britain and America
- Authors:
- WATSON Nick, WOODS Brian
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Society, 4(1), January 2005, pp.97-105.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
On the surface, the wheelchair appears a simple machine: its function seemingly apparent and its workings relatively uncomplicated. Yet, despite this apparent simplicity, the wheelchair is a complex artefact imbued with a myriad of social as well as technical relations that act simultaneously to exclude and include, confine and liberate, shape and be shaped. The wheelchair's inextricable links to injury and illness have certainly shaped its definition as a medical device. Such a definition has labelled the occupier as passive or ill and shaped a wider understanding of the machine as a prison. Wheelchair users, however, perceive the machine as a means to independence: it enables rather than disables. We present evidence here to suggest that this is not a recent phenomenon as we show how wheelchair access has been on the political agenda for disabled people for most of the twentieth century. The paper also examines the role of the wheelchair in the development of this movement, and we suggest that, as the design of the wheelchair improved, so the demand for better access increased. The final section of the paper looks at how poorly the state and its agents understood the issue of access.
The disability rights movement: from charity to confrontation
- Authors:
- FLEISHER Doris Zames, ZAMES Freida
- Publisher:
- Temple University Press
- Publication year:
- 2001
- Pagination:
- 278p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, PA
This book, a history of the American disability movement, documents the evolution of attitudes from isolation and charity to confrontation and rights; from sheltered workshops to independent living; from 'cripples' and 'invalids' to people with disabilities. Contents include: deinstitutionalisation and independent living; disability rights legislation; the struggle for change; access to jobs and health care; physician assisted suicide; disability and technology; disabled veterans; education; identity and culture.