2 - Disability

Summary

The concept of disability is a cultural construct. By simple definition, ‘disability’ can describe any number of physical, mental or medical conditions that cause someone to be labelled as ‘different’ or ‘unfit’ by other members of their society. As a result, the notion of what is disabling can vary widely over time and across cultures (Roberts 2000: 46). For instance, rickets, which is caused by prolonged vitamin D deficiency, results in bowed legs, curvature of the spine and stunted growth. In the past, rickets was seen as a disabling condition because it would have impaired an individual's mobility and aptitude for physical labour. Today rickets is rare, but when it does occur, there are surgical and therapeutic interventions widely available to help restore mobility. Furthermore, the understanding of what constitutes a disability can even differ among groups within a culture. An apt illustration of this comes from Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts. Throughout most of the United States, deafness is (and has traditionally been) viewed as a disabling and socially isolating condition, but on Martha's Vineyard, congenital deafness was endemic for approximately 250 years (the last deaf resident died in the early 1950s; Groce 1985). There, the incidence of congenital deafness was thirty-five times more common than the national average, which prompted all residents – those who could hear as well as those who could not – to use sign language. The unique bilingual nature of the island created a situation in which communication barriers and social stigmas usually associated with deafness were non-existent, thus ensuring the complete social integration of those who, in other circumstances, would most likely have been considered disabled. Deafness, therefore, was not deemed to be a disability on the Vineyard. Indeed, when asked about the status of the deaf on the island, a woman who grew up in the early twentieth century candidly remarked ‘those people weren't handicapped. They were just deaf’ (Groce 1985: 5).

In order to better understand ancient Greek societal attitudes towards disabled people, this chapter reviews the bioarchaeological evidence of physical difference in the Late Archaic/Classical Greek world (ca. sixth to fifth/fourth centuries bce).