disability-history-timeline-2013

Key individuals1859The first home nurse isappointed in Liverpoolby William Rathbone(1819 -1902) to providecare for his dying wife;this prompts him tocampaign for a systemof district nursing toenable poor people tobenefit from similar care.His involvement also makes him aware ofthe poor state of the workhouse hospitals,and he does much to help reform nursingin workhouses.1881The Invalid Children’s Aid Association isfounded by Allen Dowdeswell Graham,a clergyman, to help disabled childrenliving in poverty. He writes: ‘Poverty isbad enough, God knows, but the poorhandicapped exist in a living hell. It’s upto us to do something about it.’1898Mary Dendy establishes The Lancashire andCheshire Society for the Permanent Care ofthe Feeble-Minded.1915Arthur Pearson, who had lost his sight inmid-career, establishes the St. Dunstan’sOrganisation. St. Dunstaners become anelite among their blind peers as, in additionto their war pension, they receive financialhelp from this well-endowed society.1961Enoch Powell, Minister of Health,announces the decommissioning of mentalhospitals as part of the move towards ‘carein the community’. In his famous ‘watertower’ speech to The National Associationfor Mental Health, he foresees a halvingof acute patient numbers in psychiatrichospitals over the next 15 years, andultimately no long-stay patients.44