Infusing Disability History into the Classroom

By Rich Cairn & Graham Warder

In Living with Disabilities in New England, 1630-1930

Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife 2021 Annual Proceedings. Released August, 2024. Edited by Nicole Belolan and Marla Miller. 

Buy this illuminating book online from Historic Deerfield or at the Historic Deerfield Museum!   

The Dublin series focuses attention on material culture, regional and local history, cultural geography, historical archaeology, and vernacular and antiquarian studies in New England. In 2021 when the seminar explored the history of disability, Emerging America's Rich Cairn helped with planning so as to cultivate teacher participation. Keene State College historian Graham Warder spoke at the seminar on how the experiences of Civil War veterans changed disability in America–the theme of Emerging America's own online exhibit, which Warder also helped create. 

The proceedings book extends an enlightening reach into pre-Revolutionary American history through the 19th century, demonstrating a particular wealth of research on local and on material culture. Topics include religion and mental illness, the experiences of women and of workers in various trades, the impact of enslavement on disability, and life at Deaf schools. 

Cairn and Warder's chapter argues for a robust incorporation of disability history in the K-12 curriculum as simply good history. Drawing on long experience with the Disability History Museum and in leading graduate courses for teachers, the two authors describe exemplary disability history curricula. Finally, they share specific approaches to teaching inquiry-driven classroom investigations, featuring primary sources and content examples from their work creating lessons about disabled Civil War veterans for the Reform to Equal Rights K-12: Disability History Curriculum. 

Read the chapter: Infusing Disability History into the Classroom. Posted by Emerging America with permission.