Those They Called Idiots

Sensitive and sweeping, this is a history of the little-known lives of people with learning disabilities from the communities of eighteenth-century England, to the nineteenth-century asylum, to care in today's society.

Those They Called Idiots traces the little-known lives of people with learning disabilities from the communities of eighteenth-century England to the nineteenth-century asylum, to care in today's society. Using evidence from civil and criminal courtrooms, joke books, slang dictionaries, novels, art, and caricature, it explores the explosive intermingling of ideas about intelligence and race, while bringing into sharp focus the lives of people often seen as the most marginalized in society.

About the author

Simon Jarrett is a writer and historian specializing in the history of disability. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Open University and author of A History of Disability in England: From the Medieval Period to the Present Day (2023). He also writes about people with learning disabilities and the arts for Community Living magazine. He is Chair of Corali Dance Company, a leader in dance created by people with learning disabilities.

Summary

A humane, thoughtful and yet clear-eyed history of people with learning disabilities since 1700.

Product details

• Authors: Simon Jarrett
• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2020
• EAN: 9781789143010
• ISBN: 978-1-78914-301-0
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 165 mm x 240 mm x 35 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book; England, HISTORY / General, Social & cultural history, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Social and cultural history, C 1700 To C 1800