David Baillie sent me a message saying, “My dad’s Auntie, [name removed by Paul] was from Blantyre. She was born deaf & dumb in the early 1900’s. I just want to find out what it would have been like for her in those days. On the census it says ‘imbecile’. I hate that word.”
A sensitive subject, so I’ve been hopefully careful in my response. Firstly, the use of that term.
Times have indeed changed, but the words, imbecile, idiot or lunatic were actually quite common on census reports. Census returns from 1871 were the first to record these terms. In Scotland that year, the number of deaf-and-dumb persons enumerated was 2,088, or 1 in 1,609 of the inhabitants, a considerable decrease on the return for 1861, which was 2,335, or 1 in 1,311.
Such were the descriptions given to people with an intellectual or developmental condition. As well as impairments since birth, an ‘imbecile’ on old census reports might also be someone who has suffered a decline in their mental state (such as what we know now as senile dementia or Alzheimers) or could sometimes very harshly be allocated in census records to people who were severely handicapped. Many conditions were of course not properly known about or recognised back then, such as leaning difficulties and dyslexia. I would wager, (though no evidence) it could even stretch to things like epilepsy and speech impediments.
Having seen so many census records over the years, it’s a term which I dislike immensely too. In the 20th Century, the word ‘imbecile’ seems to have passed into vernacular usage as a derogatory term. It fell out of professional use in the 20th century in favour of far more sensitive words like ‘disability’ and ‘mute’.
Now, I don’t know the person in David’s query, nor the life she lived, but clearly it would not have been easy. However, knowing a little about the social history of this condition, I can comment on what life may have been life for people in her position in those times both as a child and adult.
As children, special schools were available for infants and children of pre-teen age. However, they were few and far between and as was the case in Blantyre, handicapped, or children with impairments attended regular classes. This is evidenced by old school photos which certainly appear to show physical disability in some pupils. Teachers would have had to make concessions to ensure the children hard of hearing were educated to the same standards of others. Guardians of the poor were empowered to place deaf-and-dumb children in special schools, and to defray the expense of then maintenance.
As a young girl, David’s aunt may have been frustrated to learn of the emergence of radio and TV. However, in the early days of silent films before ‘talking movies’, when Blantyre had several early cinemas, this may have been exciting for her seeing words on screen to explain the pictures, without the need for sound…..and perhaps even invoke an overwhelming feeling of ‘fitting in perfectly with everybody else’!
As adults, people considered ‘deaf and dumb’ could still follow a wide range of employments. There was a trend to pursue industrial occupations, rather than the academics with advantage to themselves and to the community; in fact to the educated deaf-mute nearly all occupations in which spoken communications were not absolutely necessary were entirely open and possible.
Looking into this more, people considered ‘deaf and dumb’ were employed as artists, engravers, tailors, shoemakers, bakers, carpenters, printers, agricultural or general labourers. Of the female occupations, many women would have been in domestic service, dressmakers and seamstresses, laundresses, or employed in cotton manufacture. Especially where work was of repetitive nature such as in factories or production lines, rather than taking different instruction each day. It is known that such people immersed in an utterly quiet world, possess the imitative faculty in a high degree, and this enables them to become efficient workforce in many handicrafts and mechanical arts.
However, there would always have been a stigma which would ultimately make it more difficult for them to find suitable employment.
For those people unable to work, there was a consideration by authorities and indeed family members to make sure people took their share in the pursuits of active life. From the 1920s onwards, this could be done by enrolment in special institutions and taking instruction essentially from teachers or carers who would teach life skills and hobbies.
Thankfully, in many cases, people born with difficulties hearing or communicating were still surrounded by loving families, looking out for them and even in the early 1900s, despite mortality rates being significantly different, went on in many cases to be fiercely independent, strong willed with a defiant bravery in an ever increasing noisy world.
AI has created an image for this article.
Interested in hearing the thoughts of everybody else….
