Varför får jag icke följa med dit fram? Medborgarskapet och den offentliga debatten om dövstumma och blinda 1860–1914

Sammanfattning: Different kinds of cultural studies can be used in order to learn more about disability, social policies, attitudes and citizenship. The purpose of this study is to outline some aspects of disability and Swedish society during the 19th century. The ambition is to analyse the issue of the integration of the deaf-mutes and the blind. How did politicians and educators motivate the establishment of compulsory schooling? How was the issue of correction of the body treated? How did they deal with the situation on the labour market? What kind of compensation was contemporary society willing to support? Social policies in the past are likely to be described in terms of control, repression and barriers. This study looks at disability from a more anthropological view which implies the use of hermeneutics, seeking to identify the agent’s own understanding of a problem in order to learn more about how social categorisation and citizenship are integrated and how they change. The use of original sources, such as records from the Swedish parliament and conferences held by experts as well as periodicals, makes this kind of approach possible.This thesis argues that disability must be understood as something that is constantly in the arena of a more dialectical struggle where a number of visions and interests have melted together. In the course of state interventionism and growing social justice, citizenship and disability to a greater extent became a question of honour. Being granted certain rights meant that the individual had passed the test and was now sanctioned as disabled, one who deserved the right to rights. This transition promoted a growing group consciousness. A more dialectical approach perforates the border between social control and humanity since they were not always mutually exclusive.