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Aug 26, 2020 14 tweets 18 min read Read on X
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Today is #NationalDogDay!
Time to re-examine the roles dogs have played in #DisHist!
For centuries, artists have shown dogs accompanying blind subjects, performers & beggars across the world, suggesting that dogs lived/worked alongside disabled handlers. The black and white illustr...The color image shows medie...The black and white photo s...
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Medieval European texts show figures that might possibly be blind holding a staff & the lead of a dog. As per @NinonDubourg, dogs were not considered reliable or safe in theory, but they were likely used as companions and fellow performers while begging.
#DisHist #envhist The color photo shows margi...The color image shows margi...
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For more on #DisHist and good dogs in medieval illustrations, you can read @drkmurch’s blog here: kristamurchison.com/medieval-guide…

And @JudeSeal’s @ExploreWellcome piece here: wellcomecollection.org/articles/XszQJ…

#NationalDogDay #envhist #animalhistories
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These representations are not restricted to Europe. Take this 13thc Chinese scroll titled “Spring on the Yellow Fever,” which *might* show a detail of a man with a cane (which might signify blindness) holding on to the leash of a dog.
#DisHist #NationalDogDay #envhist The black and white image s...The black and white image s...
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This 17thc woodcut on the Dance of Death shows a skeletal Death coming for a blind man. Death is shown taking the staff of the blind man & cutting the lead of the little dog accompanying the blind man, who is described as the latter's “Conducteur”.
#DisHist #NationalDogDay The black and white image s...
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Dogs may have worked with #disabled performers.
In this illustration, the dog leads a Blind performer, who extends a begging bowl and has a child on his back.
The dog himself holds a begging bowl in his mouth.
#DisHist #ArtHistory #NationalDogDay #envhist The color image shows a pai...
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Several #18thc & #19thc artworks also show blind subjects with canine companions, reinforcing the possibility that dogs, even if untrained, may have accompanied blind folk in public spaces as companions and performers.
#DisHist #NationalDogDay #envhist/ The black and white image s...The black and white etching...The black and white image s...
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It is WWI that really changes the ways in which dogs begin to be trained to support disabled people of all kinds.
The first TRAINED guide dogs for the blind were in streets, factories & public transport in Europe & the Americas by the 1920s & 30s.
#DisHist #NationalDogDay The black and white photogr...
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If you want to read more about the history of guide dogs in the First World War, you can read @DisabilityStor1’s @nursingclio post here:

nursingclio.org/2018/11/15/the…
#DisHist #NationalDogDay #envhist
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If you want to read more: here is @pemberton_neil's @MedHums_BMJ paper on guide dogs in the US:

#DisHist #envhist #NationalDogDay #animalhistories #histSTM

mh.bmj.com/content/medhum…
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WWII increased interest in guide dogs. This "Handbook for the Newly Blinded" explored the pros & cons of a trained #GuideDog: while dogs could increase mobility, the book warned that some people disliked dogs and could be cruel to them.
#DisHist #NationalDogDay The black and white image s...The black and white image s...
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These images of #WWII veteran Sgt Foulk & his “best pal” Blondie:
“If there is any magic in the fine work which these dogs are doing, it is not of the voodoo type, but rather hard work, miles of walking, patience & the willingness to learn.”
#DisHist #NationalDogDay The black and white photo s...The black and white photo s...
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Although dogs began as guides for the blind, by the 1980s, dogs were being trained to respond to smoke/fire alarms, phones and other sounds to help deaf handlers. This ad for Dogs for the Deaf was posted in @NAACP’s Crisis mag in 1986
#DisHist #NationalDogDay The black and white image s...
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As much as these 4-legged creatures have been much beloved companions, they now play an important role in the lives of many disabled people, and are trained for handlers with disabilities including diabetes, epilepsy, PTSD.
So MANY GOOD DOGS.
#DisHist #NationalDogDay
End! The black and white image s...The black and white photo s...

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More from @DisabilityHistr

Sep 14, 2023
🧵NEW GROWING THREAD ALERT 🧵

As disability history expands into new global regions (outside US and Western Europe), we at the DHA are beginning a small project to highlight works that introduce us to disability in those regions.
Each week, we will be linking a book, article, or chapter on disability history and studies in the non-West! These posts are being curated by prior and current DHA board members @WTan_Historian and @jiya_pandya and DHA intern @Tulikaa_, based on a longer syllabus Wayne compiled.
@WTan_Historian @jiya_pandya @Tulikaa_ We'd love to hear from you on your favorite works in this field so write in! And, if there's a piece we share that you particularly care about, do comment, so that this thread can serve as a living bibliography!
Read 96 tweets
Mar 5, 2020
Thread:
The best kind of #DisHist is that of the everyday.
In 2014, @bbcouch researched the story of Duncan McKenzie and Nesta Holgate, a deaf British couple whose 1940 wedding featured in a British Pathé video.
1/n The black and white photo s...
2/n

'Everyone at the wedding is both deaf and dumb and they all converse in sign language.'
This is the video of the wedding, shot in 1940 and showing several shots of the wedding party, happy, excited and signing.
#DisHist #DeafHistory

britishpathe.com/video/deaf-and…
3/n
The wedding took place at Beverley Minster, which was supposed to be the resting place of St. John, who was supposed to heal the sick and to give the power of speech back to the nonverbal and hearing to the deaf.
#DisHist #DeafHistory The color photo shows a sta...The color photo shows the s...
Read 11 tweets
Jan 11, 2020
Thread:
1.
What does disability offer as a category of historical analysis? Why does #DisHist matter?
Here is an eg:
Born in Sardinia, Antonio Gramsci (1891–
1937) lived with physical disability, possibly due to Pott's disease (image not of him).../ The image shows a black and white photograph of the back of a young boy with deformities of the spine and neck.
2.
His mother held to the idea that he was disabled after a fall down a flight of stairs which she blamed on a servant. The young Gramsci lived with chronic pain, and his condition may have impacted his growth as well.
#DisHist #DisabilityHistory #histmed The image shows a black and white photograph of a middle aged woman with dark hair wearing a dark dress, holding a toddler with dark curly hair and a white dress. The photo appears to be from the early 20th century.
3.
Gramsci's own writings describe how he was called a gobbo (hunchback) by those around him & described how his condition made him feel like an "intruder" in his family.../
#DisHist #histchild #histmed
Read 8 tweets
Nov 19, 2019
Thread:
1.
‘Public schools were closed to me because of my wheelchair, and special schools were closed to me because I was black”
The Mar 1970 edition of Performance mag. profiled the polio survivor and disabled artist & teacher Juanita Cotton.
#DisHist #DisabilityTooWhite The image shows a black and...
2.
Born in Oklahoma, Juanita was educated at home & graduated high school at 20. Her counselor refused to support her studying art in college. He “tried to find a reason why I couldn’t go to college” & sent her to a psychiatrist for wanting to study art. She persisted.
#DisHist Image
3.
She was the 1st black woman & the 1st disabled woman ever to study in the art Department @UofOklahoma, where she was 'largely ignored' by other students & confronted all the problems of wheelchair users including falling down a large flight of steps on campus.
#DisHist
Read 6 tweets
Nov 3, 2019
1.
Medieval Japanese guilds (za) offered spaces for belonging & institutional support for the blind. Todo-za claimed links to ancient emperors, aristocratic families, & incarnations of deities for authority/legitimacy. Not all of the blind enrolled in the toda-za/
#DisHist Painting. Geisha and blind ...
2.
When a blind person wished to enter the todo-za, they usually became the apprentice of a local member. The acolyte then shaved their head & was known as the shoshin (beginner). They then paid their dues to the todo-za and received a certificate of membership & a rank/
#DisHist The image shows a color pai...
3.
These guilds provided support and education to the blind, including training in stringed instruments
& storytelling, which were occupations commonly regarded as suitable professions for the blind/
#DisHist the image shows a black and...
Read 11 tweets
Aug 26, 2019
Thread:

Today is #NationalDogDay! Lets examine what roles our 4-legged friends have played in #DisHist!
Artistic representations of dogs accompanying #blind singers, beggars etc from across the world suggests that they have often worked and lived alongside #disabled handlers..1/ The blind man wears patched clothing and seems to be a beggar: he is led by a skinny dog with its ribs showing. The blind man appears to be holding a stick to guide him as well.A medieval color illustration from the Book of Hours shows a blind man receives sight from Christ while his dog looks on.
In this #earlymodern illustration of the Dance of Death, Death cuts the rope that links the blind man and his dog: “I cut you off from your guide.”
The blind man responds, saying, “I cannot take a step without my dog (hund).”
#DisHist #NationalDogDay..2/ The engraved illustration shows Death on the left as a skeleton, confronting a man with a hat and cloak, who appears to be a blind and is led by a dog. Death is using scissors to cut the rope used to lead the dog.
For more on #DisHist and good doggos in medieval illustrations, read @drkmurch's blog here:

kristamurchison.com/medieval-guide…

...3/
Read 9 tweets

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