Discrimination Against Disabilities and Learning Difficulties in Wartime
- Mable Green
- Aug 19
- 8 min read
Wartime discrimination against disabilities and learning difficulties worked in factories, doing essential work to support the war. Click here - Pictures of how disabled people were trained to work in factories in the war.
The First World War
The First World War greatly impacted disability as the men coming back home demanded a different way of thinking; they had given their lives and bodies for their country and needed to be looked after. Inventions brought about the prosthetic limb and advances in surgery. One million men were killed, and two million were disabled, requiring corrective surgery and equipment. Many veterans were unable to work and received a pension. The 'King's Roll' was a 1919 scheme that encouraged firms to employ disabled ex-servicemen, but this didn't take off. Ex-servicemen worked in sheltered roles, such as making prosthetic limbs for other service members. In 1927, a training school for veterans to learn to drive became a taxi driver in London.
Ex-servicemen had equipment and adapted housing for their disabilities, but unfortunately, this did not filter down to the disabled civilian population. They were still living in colonies outside of towns and cities.
Eugenics before and during wartime
The 1913 Mental Deficiency Act set up a new Board of Control in line with the latest ideas of Eugenics. Mental deficit colonies were scattered around the countryside, housing what we now know as people with learning difficulties and people with mental illnesses of all levels. Children and partners were separated. If they could, they were put to work within their communities in workshops, kitchens, gardens and laundry. Education was compulsory for the children, giving them essential life skills, but they would never get jobs outside.
Oxford Dictionary definition of Eugenics
The study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable. Primarily developed by Sir Francis Galton as a method of improving the human race, Eugenics was increasingly discredited as unscientific and racially biased during the 20th century, especially after the adoption of its doctrines by the Nazis to justify their treatment of Jews, disabled people, and other minority groups.
Between and during wars, the Germans were also looking at those with mental illness and those with learning difficulties as a threat to the nation. There was an unease, and they feared their kind infiltrating the general public and weakening the race of that country.
Human Perfectibility
In 1930, Julian Huxley, a public intellectual, secretary of the London Zoological Society and chairman of the Eugenics Society, wrote the following- "Every defective man, woman and child is a burden, every defective is an extra body for the nation to feed and clothe, but produces little or nothing in return." Many political figures and prominent figures believed in this way of thinking, especially Maire Stopes, who pioneered 'Birth Control'. The 20th century was and still is about Human Perfectibility. By definition, being human means that you are not perfect.
The torture of many disabled people during the Second World War
After the war ended, the true horrors began to emerge. As a result of the persecution of the Jews and the Germans' torture of disabled people, the Science of Eugenics was frowned upon. The Pre-war ideas of isolation and sterilisation of disabled people were losing favour along with the Victorian notions of asylums, as they revealed the scandal of neglect and abuse. Over the years, Newspapers and documentaries have exposed the inferior practice of those locked away and forgotten.
Rehabilitation, nursing and advances in medical practices in the war led to the Disability Act in 1944, which promised shelter, reserved occupation and employment for those returning from the war with disabilities. The National Health Service in 1948 took over, expanding the service to care for everyone, not just those who could afford it. There was a focus on restoring fitness and mobility, teaching skills to get men back into employment, and supporting depression. Significant advances became mainstream health for everyone, especially artificial limbs and prosthetic fittings that spread to Industrial accidents and helped those born with deformities.
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Selwyn Goldsmith (1932-2011)
Selwyn Goldsmith became disabled with polio when he was 24 years old, the year he finished his architectural training. He fought institutional discrimination for adaptations for people who were disabled, and those who were blind and deaf. After interviewing 284 people with disabilities in Norwich, Goldsmith built the first unisex cubicle accessible toilets and fifteen ramped kerbs. While it seems dated, it was groundbreaking in its time, and he was the Author of Design for Disabled.
'I wish when I use buildings to do so in the same way as others, to be integrated rather than segregated, to be treated as normal and not peculiar.' (Selwyn Goldsmith, 1997)
The Paralympics for those disabled following the wars
The birth of the Paralympics came about after a dressing competition at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. A Jewish Neurosurgeon and Nazism refugee, Ludwig Guttman, made significant breakthroughs with spinal injuries that were thought hopeless. He gave them hope and a sense of purpose by getting them involved in competitive sports on the grounds. Guttman started with darts, skittles and snooker and expanded to wheelchair basketball and polo. On the day of the 1948 Olympics, Guttman organised his first competition against another local hospital. He predicted that disabled people would have their own Olympics.
Phillip Craven became a world-class athlete following a climbing accident at 16. Motivated not by his rehab becoming an elite athlete, he took a British basketball team to the Paralympics in 1973. He removed the Paralympic image from medical rehabilitation and presented an elite class of athletes. Craven became the President of the Paralympic Committee in 2001. In the London Paralympics, 2,400 disabled athletes were participating in 20 sports.
Campaigning and disabled people's rights
Returning from war, veterans wanted to regain their societal roles and demanded a place. The National Cripples Journal blasted the government for its promise of security from the cradle to the grave, but did nothing for the civilian disabled who could work and contribute to society.
In 1941, faced with an acute shortage in the workforce, the government recruited more than 300,000 unemployable (as they saw them) disabled people under the heading 'Cripples Can do Vital War Work'. After both wars, they returned to their colonies outside the towns and cities.
Many new campaigning organisations and charities have formed. The National Association for Mental Health and the National Association of Parents with Backwards Children started in 1946, becoming MIND and Mencap. Other charities established themselves, such as Leonard Cheshire Foundation, British Epilepsy Association, and the Spastics Society, now known as Scope. Marches through London in 1951 started a social movement. Many charities started campaigning for disability rights and civil rights.
Enoch Powell, in 1961, declared that all the Mental Health Hospitals, as well as Asylums and Workhouses, were to close in 15 years and start developing Hostels in the community instead. This came from the Ministry of Health: A Hospital Report for England and Wales and the Development of Hostels. It would take 25 years to see this process happen.
Camphill Communities
In 1940, a group of Austrian Refugees settled in Scotland, intending to set up a community for children with learning difficulties. A paediatrician, Dr Karl Koenig, was inspired by Ralph Steiner's Principles of Living. With the financial support of local wealthy families, they set up a community supporting children and adults with Learning difficulties so they could get an education and purpose in their lives.
Mental Health issues and Learning difficulties
The 1944 Disability Persons' Employment Act promised employment for those returning from the war and taught daily living skills. Slowly, it filtered down to the existing disabled population, helped by the formation of the National Health Service in 1948, but this was slow. Increased advances in rehabilitation have also extended to provide for those with industrial injuries.
The Education Act of 1944 and the formation of the Local Education Authority (LEA)
The aim was to remove inequalities in the education system by offering poorer children a place at Grammar schools. Still, it didn't always work, as families could not afford the extra cost. Also, the Local Education Authority(LEA) formed was answerable to the new Department of Education.
Three types of Schools
They provided three types of schools: grammar, Secondary, Modern, and Technical. The choice allowed every child to fulfil their potential following an 11-plus exam. The leaving age was 15 years old, then in 1972 it was raised again to 16 years old after taking 'O' level exams. Within this act, they still saw children with learning difficulties of all levels as not being fit for education, labelling them 'Ineducable'.
The Guild of Teachers of Backwards Children
In 1955, the Guild of Teachers of Backwards Children was to teach children that they labelled as 'Subnormal, Severely subnormal. In the 1959 Act, the term 'Backwards' was frequently used. Patients or people should only be voluntarily admitted or, if they are a danger to themselves or others, 'be sectioned'. The NHS realised that half the beds were for mental health illnesses or issues. The level of spending was going to be a factor in how effective the move from institutions into the community would be.
The beginning of the end of Asylums
These asylums and hospitals had always been open to scandal and abuse; they were not lovely places. Sadly, information is still coming out about historical abuse.
The first hospital to close was Banstead Hospital, and then most of the Asylums closed as medical treatment and public opinion were changing. Many people were discharged with no experience of outside life or skills to cope with the outside world, and this was their home. Some admissions were for medical reasons, such as epileptics or women who had a baby out of marriage.
Patients or people should only be voluntarily admitted or, if they are a danger to themselves or others, 'be sectioned'. The NHS realised that half the beds were for mental health illnesses or issues. The level of spending was going to be a factor in how effective the move from institutions into the community would be.
In the 60s and 70s, the civil rights activists
People with disabilities gathered strength and campaigned against discrimination due to poor access and for equality. The Union of the Physically Impaired against segregation (UPIAS) and the Mental Patients Union(MPU) started campaigning against being in residential care and asylums instead of with their families.
Between 1960 and 1980
During this time, Asylums were closing, and plans and government Acts were passed to move towards more community-based care.
National Assistance Act 1948,
Health Visitors and Social Work (Training) Act 1962,
Children and Young Persons Act 1963,
National Health Reorganisation Act 1973,
Children's Act 1975,
National Health Service (Vocational Training) Act 1976,
Local Authority Social Services Act 1970,
Mental Health (Amended) Act 1982, to name a few.
The Seebohm Commission in 1968
Following the Seebohm Commission in 1968, the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 created a framework we know today. The government created departments in local areas to assume the responsibility for local Authority Health and Welfare Services. These services coordinated social care, involved the families in their homes and contacted the community for support. Patients were to live with their family or have assisted living, learning life skills and vocational courses in the community. That was the plan.
The Disability Discrimination Act (1995)
The Tory government of John Major passed the first piece of legislation that protected those with disabilities and people with learning difficulties against discrimination. Existing acts were superseded - Race Relations Act 1976 and Gender - Sex Discrimination Act 1975. However, there was no protection for those with a disability that was life restricting, such as people with Learning Difficulties. This act covered Education, Health Care, and Employment.
Mental health after the closure of the asylums
Society has neglected mental health and learning disabilities/difficulties. Their needs and rights are sometimes similar. Due to underfunding and lack of priority, in my opinion, the mental health support in this country has a long way to go to match its physical counterpart in the NHS.
The latest monthly Assuring Transformation NHS Digital data shows that in April 2023:
In total, 2,060 autistic people and people with learning disabilities are in inpatient mental health hospitals in England.
1,320 (64%) of these people are autistic
225 under-18s in inpatient units are autistic or have a learning disability. Of these, 96% are autistic.
Despite some progress in moving people with learning disabilities out of hospitals and into the community, the number of autistic people in inpatient facilities has increased. In 2015, autistic people made up 38% of the number in hospitals; now it is 64%.
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