ABSTRACT
The present and past attitudes of a society to disability can be illuminated by the legislation passed by that society. Societal reaction to disability has ranged from fear and ostracism to attempts at integration and, latterly, acknowledgement of the value of all people to the community. The notion that disability was a punishment is embedded in Judeo-Christian religion. St Augustine considered impairment a 'punishment for the fall of Adam and other sins’ and Martin Tuther saw the devil in a disabled child and recommended its death. The clever but deformed Emperor Claudius was almost put to death at birth. Fie was subsequently dismissed by his mother as 'a monster: a man whom Nature had begun to work upon and flung aside’. The numbers of specialist schools and workshops were reduced and employment alongside the 'able' was encouraged.
