The History of Disabled People
The history of people with disabilities since 1050.
Disability Since 1945
This section looks at how attitudes to disability changed after the Second World War. The National Health Service extended treatment and disabled groups campaigned for equal rights, inclusion in society and access.
In this section
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Overview: 1945 to the Present Day (current page)
This section looks at how attitudes to disability changed after the Second World War.
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Back to the Community - Disability Equality, Rights and Inclusion
The struggle for disability equality, rights and inclusion leading to the end of the asylum and the policy of 'care in the community'.
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Disability, Rehabilitation and Work
How work became a key element of the rehabilitation process for people with disabilities after the Second World War.
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Nowhere out of Bounds - Disability Access and Adaptation
How the increased numbers of disabled people living in cities after the Second World War made mobility and access issues vitally important.
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Disability and Sport: The Birth of the Paralympics - from Rehabilitation to World Class Performance
How sport was used by Ludwig Guttman in his revolutionary rehabilitation system at Stoke Mandeville for people paralysed in the Second World War.
The end of the Second World War
As the Second World War ended in 1945, many horrors emerged. They included the mass killing of disabled people in Germany.
In reaction to Nazi abuses the pre-war 'eugenicist' theories which had argued for the isolation and sterilisation of people with disabilities became increasingly reviled.
In England, public concern shifted to the 300,000 ex-servicemen and women and civilians who had been left disabled by the war.
Rehabilitation for all
The 1944 Disability Employment Act promised sheltered employment, reserved occupations and employment quotas for disabled people.
Initiatives to restore the fitness, mobility, daily living skills and morale of disabled servicemen and women spread to the rest of the disabled population. The new National Health Service extended rehabilitation services to workers disabled by industrial accidents.
Direct action
Disabled people did not remain passive, and many campaigning disability charities formed in the 1940s and 50s. A new social movement was started by a 'silent reproach' march of disabled ex-servicemen in 1951.
In the 1960s and 70s, the civil rights movement in America inspired disabled groups to take direct action against discrimination, poor access and inequality. A 'social' rather than a 'medical' model of disability emerged and eventually, in 1995, the Disability Discrimination Act was passed.
Inclusion and access
The new social model was concerned with people's rights as members of society. The question of access was critical. Disabled people needed adaptations made to their environments if they were to be properly included. Separate facilities were built at first, but soon architects and planners took on the idea of 'universal design'. They created buildings and landscapes which every person could use every part of..
The birth of the Paralympic Games
Great changes took place in sport. The inspirational refugee neurosurgeon, Ludwig Guttman (1899-1980), was in charge of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Here, patients paralysed in the war began to compete against each other as part of a pioneering rehabilitation method.
In 1948 a wheelchair archery competition was held on the lawns of the hospital. In this humble way, the Paralympic Games was born. The Games are now the second biggest sporting event on earth, and many elite disabled athletes have become sporting icons in their own right.
The end of the asylum
The era of the asylum finally came to an end after a series of scandals revealed neglect and abuse. In 1981 the Jay Report promoted a 'care in the community' programme for people with learning disabilities and mental health needs. Tens of thousands of people left the long-term hospitals and returned to mainstream communities.
The Victorian ideal of a safe institutional 'asylum' has been replaced by new visions of equality, inclusion and universal access. Their long-term impact will be seen in time.
Late 20th century
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Watch the BSL video on disability since 1945
