A newspaper clip that at the top says "American Shut-in Society is Doing Much - Wheel Chair Outing Club Formed in Boston is Happy Success - Providing Diversion for Members Through Medium of Newspapers, Books and Letters." Underneath is a picture of nine people, some are in wheelchairs. A child is in the front. Below it says "members of the wheel chair outing club."

This was published in the Boston Globe in 1911. While most members couldn't leave their houses, some were able to occasionally for events like the ones held by the society's "wheelchair outing club."
#disabilityhistory

Buy Rebecca Upton a Coffee Become a supporter of Rebecca Upton today!

I've started writing more about disability history on Ko-Fi. My first piece is on The Shut-In Society, an organization that allowed bedbound/housebound people communicate through letters in the 19th and 20th centuries. You can read/support my work here:
ko-fi.com/softgothkitten
#disabilityhistory

#MedievalSky #DisHist #DisabilityHistory

Now Announcing The Outstanding Dissertation in Disability History Prize Submissions due by June 30, 2026 University of Illinois Press

✨OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS✨
The UIP in partnership w/the Disability Histories series & the Disability History Assoc is pleased to announce the 3rd annual Outstanding Dissertation in #DisabilityHistory prize!

Prize details here⤵️
press.uillinois.edu/books/disabi...

cc: @historians.org @oah.org

Promotional banner featuring the book Colored Insane: Slavery, Asylums, and Mental Illness in the Nineteenth Century by Diana Martha Louis. The book cover appears on the left with an illustrated scene of several figures surrounding a seated woman. Along the far left margin is a vertical “Q&A” label. To the right, large text reads “Diana Martha Louis on Colored Insane,” with the author’s name in red and the book title in blue. The background is a gradient of gold and teal with a cream-colored band behind the text.

This #WomensHistoryMonth, discover the stories of Black women confined in 19th-century asylums. In Colored Insane, Diana Martha Louis centers their lives and resistance. Read more: buff.ly/jaml19r #WomensHistoryMonth #ColoredInsane #BlackWomenInHistory #MentalHealthHistory #DisabilityHistory

Cerebral palsy was first described in the early 1800s.

Which means people with CP have always existed — medicine just took a while to catch up.

#DisabilityHistory #CerebralPalsyMonth

So valuable to look at the past. The Accessible Canada Act recognizes ASL, LSQ and Indigenous sign languages as primary languages for communication by Deaf people and aims to identify, remove and prevent barriers to #Accessibility in this area by 2040. #Accessibilité #Inclusion #DisabilityHistory

Hmmm social care began way, way before Beveridge. #DisabilityHistory #Herstory; medicine was essentially a male preserve, #socialcare was female dominated ( still is) that’s a major reason why it was disregarded ( still is)

An old photo album captures a history of Black disabled activism. For Anita Cameron, it’s personal Many of the photographs in a family album tell a story that Cameron said has been erased from the conversation about the history of the disability rights movement in the U.S.: Black people also built ...

Disability rights activist Anita Cameron has an ongoing and upcoming storytelling project ‘We Were There Too: Blacks in the Disability Movement’
www.wxxinews.org/local-news/2...
#DisabilityHistory #WomensHistoryMonth

Disability History Museum Set To Open A one-of-a-kind museum chronicling disability history is reopening after a five-year hiatus in a new, bigger space that's hundreds of miles away from its previous home.

When history excludes disability, it distorts reality. The Disability History Museum reopening challenges us to rethink whose stories define progress. Accessibility is about memory, voice, and truth.

buff.ly/Fr43xmJ

#Accessibility #DisabilityInclusion #DisabilityHistory #InclusiveDesign #A11y

The Museum of Disability History has reopened in a new location in New York, featuring more than 8,000 artifacts chronicling the disability rights movement. The exhibits highlight pivotal moments in history. #DisabilityHistory #ADA #CommunityEducation

Disability History Museum Set To Open A one-of-a-kind museum chronicling disability history is reopening after a five-year hiatus in a new, bigger space that's hundreds of miles away from its previous home.

A new disability history museum is set to open — highlighting stories, advocacy, and milestones from the disability community while promoting awareness and inclusion.

🔗 www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/02/16/d...

#DisabilityHistory #Accessibility #Inclusion

Disability History Museum Set To Open A one-of-a-kind museum chronicling disability history is reopening after a five-year hiatus in a new, bigger space that's hundreds of miles away from its previous home.

A step for representation 💛

The American Disability History Museum is set to open, creating a dedicated space to honor the stories, advocacy, and impact of the disability community.

History is stronger when everyone is included.

www.disabilityscoop.com/2026/02/16/d...
#DisabilityHistory

Leicester Cathedral reveals sign language wedding held in 1576 Cathedral bosses believe the signed service could have been one of the first in England.

Extremely relevant find for #disabilityhistory!

bbc.com/news/article...

This is further evidence of the practical approach to deafness by premodern churches.

Jenni Kuuliala and I argued this in a 2020 article (research.utu.fi/converis/por...)

A book entitled Untold Stories with two dolls and a skeleton on a doll’s bed and a doll’s wheelchair on the cover.

Can anyone explain to me why this volume (subtitled ‘A Canadian disability history reader’) is catalogued in the law section of the library? #history #disabilityhistory #dishist

A photo of Penny taken by professional photographer JJ Waller recently. Sitting in front of a black background of white spots Penny has red brown wavy hair below her shoulders worn in a vintage 50s style with vintage style make up. She has a pink flower in her hair and stares directly at the camera with a half smile on her face. She wears a necklace which is a pair of mini red catseye glasses. The vibe is thoughtful.

Maybe this should come with a trigger warning. It's a reminder about the intentional killing of disabled people. Today is Holocaust Memorial Day and I was commissioned by Together 2012 to write this piece I’m proud of.
#HolocaustMemorialDay #DisabilityHistory #HMD2026 #RememberThePast #AktionT4

He Died at a School for Disabled People. Decades Later, His Brother Sought Answers.

Final 🎁article of the month; it’s fr/ Nov. 2025. #DisabilityHistory #Dignity #Grief #Care #Disability

“…boys at the Fernald were unknowingly exposed to radiation in an experiment led by Harvard & MIT…sponsored by Quaker Oats…meant to study how cereal affected the way the body absorbed minerals.“

Image 1: Orange graphic titled “Braille Fact of the Day” showing lines of raised white braille dots above the Wisdom 4 the Blind logo.

Image 2: Orange graphic titled “Braille Fact of the Day” Graphic explaining Decapoint (Raphigraphy) that was created by Louis Braille, so that blind people could write to the sighted.

One of the most unique braille systems wasn’t for reading. Decapoint (Raphigraphy) was created by Louis Braille so that blind people could write to the sighted.
#Braille #DisabilityHistory #Accessibility #LouisBraille #BlindCulture #InclusiveDesign

This afternoon/eve! #DorothyWordsworth #DisabilityHistory #QueerHistory #PoetryInTranslation

post for event: 14 January 2026, 5pm UK time, via zoom. 
This roundtable highlights new developments in research and outreach around the work and lives of the English poet and diarist Dorothy Wordsworth and the German poet and author Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. While foregrounding the writings of Dorothy and Droste, the roundtable will also introduce Que(e)ry Points, a collaborative project that interweaves work by the writers with new texts, audio material, and a playable online game. Que(e)ry Points invites readers, listeners and players to explore how queerness and chronic illness inform the writing of both authors, as well as their relationship to landscape. Que(e)ry Points takes its name from notes Dorothy Wordsworth made to herself in her Alfoxden journal of questions about her surroundings as she walks, that she needed to record to look up later. Speakers: Polly Atkin, Anneke Lubkowkitz, Abi Palmer and Annie Rutherford

Join us on Wednesday 14th at 5pm on zoom! #DorothyWordsworth #Droste #Romanticism #DisabledWriters #QueerHistory #DisabilityHistory

With love, we remember Advisory Council member Devva Kasnitz (z”l), who we lost last January (1/25/25). She dedicated her career to creating the field of #DisabilityStudies and its infrastructure. Devva’s Room remains a space to learn #DisabilityHistory: lnk.to/devvasroom.

[Video: Devva...

1/3

Promotional graphic for a January 9 episode of the Disability Daily Podcast featuring Tony Meléndez. The poster shows a colorful background with illustrated string instruments, the podcast logo, and an inset photo of Meléndez seated on stage singing into a microphone and playing a guitar with his feet. Text identifies him as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter born without arms due to thalidomide.

Today on the #Disability Daily #Podcast we celebrate Tony Meléndez, renowned #musician born without arms due to #thalidomide.

Listen & read transcript: tinyurl.com/DisabilityDaily

#guitar #music #singer #songwriter #MedicalHistory #DisabilityHistory #LimbDifference #accessibility #a11y #guitarist

Text reads January 5. Lucy Gwin. Founder of disability rights magazine Mouth. Cover of Mouth magazine from March and April 1993 showing a stylized illustration of a disabled figure strapped into a chair with restraints, wearing goggles and a helmet, hands outstretched, with the word Handicaptivity.

Today on the #Disability Daily #Podcast we celebrate Lucy Gwin, founder of the radical disability rights magazine Mouth.

Listen & read transcript

#TBI #RochesterNY #NotDeadYet #a11y #accessibility #ADA #BrainInjury #DisLabeled #DisabilityRights #history #DisHist #DisabilityHistory #medicine

Half-length portrait of Dr. J. W. Bolotin, blind man, sitting at a desk in a room, reading Braille text with his left hand and typing with his right hand in a room. Text reads: January 3. Jacob Bolotin. World's first practicing blind physician.

Today on the #Disability Daily #Podcast we honor Dr. Jacob Bolotin, considered the world's first practicing #blind physician.

‪Listen & read transcript

#DisabilityHistory #history #DisHist #DisabledInSTEM #EduSky #teachers #braille #MedSky #HistMed #MedicalHistory #SkyStorians #NFB #Jewish #a11y

Jean Little, an elderly woman with short white hair, smiles while seated in a chair and holding an open book, with bookshelves visible behind her.

Today on the #Disability Daily #Podcast we celebrate #blind Canadian children's #author Jean Little, whose work celebrated disability!

Listen & read transcript

#DisabilityHistory #accessibility #a11y #Canada #history #KidLit #books #BookSky #EduSky #fiction #teachers #glaucoma #BookSky #LowVision

My new review of "Constructing Disability After the Great War" by @evanpsullivan.bsky.social in the AHR -- a terrific work of #disabilityhistory @illinoispress.bsky.social

Margaret Hamer – heroic actions with a lasting impact - Railway Work, Life & Death GWR level crossing keeper Margaret Hamer tried to save her nephew's life in Wales in 1923; we consider what she tells us about disability history.

#ICYMI our new blog post looks at level crossing keeper Margaret Hamer's accident in #Wales in 1923.

It thinks particularly about #DisabilityHistory; today is the final day of 2025's #DisabilityHistoryMonth.

#Railway200

📚 New Book Alert: Cripping the Archive – Disability, History, and Power


mngbookshop.co.uk/9780252088797/cripping-t...

💸 20% discount code: LSMNGUP

#DisabilityStudies #CrippingTheArchive #InclusiveArchives #DisabilityHistory

Rethinking transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union through the lens of disability

Read the 🔓 #OpenAccess article co-authored by Monika Baar 👉 loom.ly/QXde0v4

📚 #SocialHistory #DisabilityHistory

Autism, Maladjustment and Special Schools in Post-War Britain Join us for a deep dive into the history of special education in post-war Britain - exploring challenges, progress, and the road ahead.

Autism, Maladjustment and Special Schools in Post‑War Britain

8 Dec 2025, 14:00 (GMT)
Online (free)

👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/autism-maladjustment-a...

#Autism #Neurodiversity #DisabilityHistory #SpecialEducation #Inclusion