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- Title
Electric Moms and Quad Drivers: People with Disabilities Buying, Making, and Using Technology in Postwar America.
- Authors
Williamson, Bess
- Abstract
Using the periodicals "Toomey J Gazette" and "Paraplegia News" as source materials, the article explores how Americans with disabilities managed to overcome obstacles encountered in the home and throughout their neighborhoods during the mid-twentieth century. Survivors of large-scale polio outbreaks and returning injured veterans from World War II faced challenges posed by typical domestic architecture of the period not built to a scale to easily adapt to the use of wheelchairs and other necessary equipment. Other topics considered include the rehabilitation movement in medicine which focused on returning patients to their homes, differences in medical treatments for whites and African Americans, the politics of public accessibility, and technological innovations available for disabled people.
- Subjects
UNITED States; PEOPLE with disabilities; HISTORY of American periodicals; MEDICAL innovations; WORLD War II veterans; POLIO; ACCESSIBLE design; PEOPLE with disabilities -- Home care; HOUSING for people with disabilities -- Design &; construction; REHABILITATION of people with disabilities; 20TH century United States history; TWENTIETH century
- Publication
American Studies (00263079), 2012, Vol 52, Issue 1, p5
- ISSN
0026-3079
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/ams.2012.0030