The Routledge History of Disability in America

The Routledge History of Disability in America brings disability to the center of American history, demonstrating how this lived experience and social category has shaped communities, institutions, politics, and everyday life. Moving chronologically from pre-contact Indigenous societies to the present, the volume explores citizenship, national belonging, law, civil rights, and activism, alongside labor, welfare, war, gender, race, medicine, religion, colonization, language, and class. Three themes unite the collection: the limits of narratives of progress; the enduring presence of ableism; and the resilience of disabled people who have challenged barriers and advocated for themselves and their loved ones. Grounded in social, cultural, and political approaches to physical and mental difference, the book illuminates the central role of disability and disabled people in shaping the American past and present. The Routledge History of Disability in America is a key comprehensive volume that serves the needs of undergraduate and graduate students, instructors, researchers, and scholars in this growing field.