ISSN 2084–1418
The paper edition of the Anthropology of History Yearbook is the definitive version
2012, No. 1 (2), Anthropology / history of the Contemporary World
Marcin Stasiak
Between Disability and Normalcy. An Individual Model of Disability in Poland in the 1950s and 1960s as Illustrated by the Example of People Disabled by Polio
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Keywords: disability, history, 20th century, Poland, rehabilitation, polio
Abstract: This paper approaches the issue of disability in the 50s and 60s in Poland. There are two main objectives of the article. Firstly, the author examines the so called individual (medical) model of disability as way of understanding and conceptualizing disability in 20th century. He points out its main features, assumptions and argues that this model was a basis for Polish state politics towards the disabled in the post-war period. Secondly, he focuses on the rehabilitation, especially medical rehabilitation treated as the main manifestation of individual model of disability. The paper approaches the reality of rehabilitation in the 50s and 60s in Poland presenting the case of the rehabilitation of polio survivors.
About Author:
MARCIN STASIAK - historian, PhD student at the Historical Department of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
