Those They Called Idiots: The Idea of the Disabled Mind from 1700 to the Present Day

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Description

Those They Called Idiots traces the little-known lives of people with learning disabilities from the communities of eighteenth-century England to the nineteenth-century asylum and care in today's society. Using evidence from civil and criminal court-rooms, joke books, slang dictionaries, novels, art and caricature, it explores the explosive intermingling of ideas about intelligence and race, while bringing into sharp focus the lives of people often seen as the most marginalised in society.

'[A] magisterial history.' Michael Fitzpatrick, Daily Telegraph

'Simon Jarrett's elegant and provocative book brings into focus for the rst time the history of people with intellectual disabilities over three centuries.' David Turner, Professor of History, Swansea University, and author of Disability in Eighteenth-Century England

'We should be grateful to Simon Jarrett for telling this complex, compelling and frequently troubling story with such tremendous clarity and style. I can't recommend this wonderful book highly enough.' Stephen Unwin, writer, playwright and director

Reviews

'Magisterial . . . Jarrett celebrates the success of the great release of people with learning disabilities from long incarceration.' -Michael Fitzpatrick, Daily Telegraph
'A remarkable history of mental disability in England . . . This important book should be read widely by experts and non-experts alike.' -Social History of Medicine
'Meticulously researched and well written, the book highlights a section of society that has always been present, but has received scant attention before now. The author has worked with people with learning disabilities for many years, and his empathy for them shines through.' -Who Do You Think You Are magazine
'A stunning book . . . Simon Jarrett is a talented historian who writes beautifully . . . we are gradually discovering the value of disability history to give new ways of thinking about the past.' -Disability and Society
'For sheer readability, Simon Jarrett has few peers in the burgeoning field popularly known as the Medical Humanities.' -Metapsychology

Author Bio

Simon Jarrett is an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. He is the editor of Community Living Magazine.