Colonialism and disability: The situation of blind people in colonised Algeria

Publication date: Available online 26 April 2016 Source:ALTER - European Journal of Disability Research / Revue Européenne de Recherche sur le Handicap Author(s): Gildas Brégain Our article analyses the mode of assistance to the blind in Algeria from the beginning of the 20th century until the Declaration of Independence of the country (1962). If Muslim blinds face discriminatory practices, all the blind – French citizens and subjects – are victims of unequal treatment because they are not entitled to the social measures granted to the blind in metropolitan France. Nevertheless, during the first decades of the 20th century many actors travel between metropolitan France and the Algerian colony and introduce on the Algerian territory innovating practices developed in France (Braille schools for the blind, eye clinics, promotion of manual work). They thus disrupt traditional practices of assistance to the blind, which are intrinsically related to Islam. Moreover, we want to underline the agency of the blind in the context of colonial Algeria, since blind association leaders take part in the colonial policy making of assistance to the blind. From the 1930's, they start to claim the equality of rights of the blind of Algeria with those of metropolitan France. This research allows to reflect on the construction of the citizenship of the blind in a colonial context.
Source: ALTER - European Journal of Disability Research - Category: Disability Source Type: research