Omsorg och Kontroll En handikapphistorisk studie 1750- 1930

Summary
successful businessman. In its wake, a large number of other institutes followed
and a new generation of actors and experts assumed leading roles.
According to history, two specific, random incidents had a decisive influence
in the creation of the first institute – the longing for an education
of a blind woman named Charlotta Seuerling and a French play about a
deaf school mounted on the Stockholm stage. Both had come to the attention
of Pär Aron Borg. Now of course this hardly suffices as a full explanation.
The scientific discourse of the latter half of the eighteenth century
had laid the foundation for a new way of seeing mankind as much more
adaptable than ever before imagined. Humanism had evolved and made
common cause with utilitarianism and mercantilism.
Lone individuals always act within a cultural, social and political context;
at the same time, these very circumstances make it possible for he or she to
break free and think new thoughts. Pär Aron Borg knew absolutely nothing
about educating the blind and the deaf, but he had taught music and singing
lessons. In order to open his school, Borg was dependent on the discourse
formulated by science and scholarship during the eighteenth century. However,
his prime motivation seems to have come from his chance encounter
with Charlotta Seuerling. Her determination convinced Borg to change the
course of his life and dedicate it to the education of the blind and the deaf.
Touching anecdotes aside, a project like his demanded coordinated efforts
between politicians, the Crown, the government and the public -and
its philanthropic support. The establishment of the institute was seen as
a symbol of the new, more peaceful age entered into with the end of the
war with Russia and comprehensive government reform enacted in 1809.
In the present dissertation, special attention has been paid to elucidating
Borg´s view of the deaf and deafness, his information campaign and educational
efforts. He was the object of criticism from other teachers for prioritizing
of vocational training over theoretical subjects. Some went almost as far
as to call Borg a charlatan who manipulated his surroundings at the public
graduation ceremonies he held for his students, where he was the only one
who could interpret their sign language for the audience. His overall goal,
however, was admirable: to raise public awareness in order to improve the
education and ultimately, job opportunities of the deaf. For this reason he
293