How the Western Middle Ages Shaped Modern Perceptions of Disability

Hodie Mihi, Cras Tibi – Today Me, Tomorrow You

Medicine has, in many ways, always been part of the debate in defining what it is to be human. Is it unique amongst humans? Hardly. Numerous animals are shown to use particular elements of the natural world to heal and repair themselves. Some form symbiotic relationships with other species in order to do so. Medicine is – in some ways – a part not just of what it means to be human, but what it means to be living. Medicine has also always gone side-by-side with a much less easy to define topic – disability and chronic illness. So what can the study of disability in the past – moderated as it is through the archaeological record, the written record and the artistic record – tell us about disability in society today? My research suggests that some of the fundamental elements of modern attitudes towards disability are also found in the Middle Ages – it is the response and context which has changed, while the underling concepts have remained the same. As such, can studying disability in the past provide important insights into modern issues? In what ways do modern questions of disability rights and disability justice have their roots in the question of what society expects of the individual?

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Image Caption: Arthurian Romances manuscript illustration, 1290-1300. Digital image courtesy of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (MS 229)

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