The disabled (oku) are included into the society.  Many material benefits are provided for them.  Here are some artifacts that you would like to see.

http://agapesibu.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Benefits-of-OKU-Card.pdf

Thank you, dear @Miranda, I appreciate your contribution. 

Thanks Dear Beata.  The disabled get very special internet rates, and a fixed internet line.  I only use a wifi device.  (I give you a link.  Or you can search 'Malaysia OKU'.)

https://www.google.com.my/search?q=oku+card+malaysia&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=709&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=zIMVVN-FF5SMuATuj4G4Dg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

My dear @Beata, "label jars, not people"! As You know, "Tom Shakespeare is an academic, leading writer and activist against disability discrimination. He currently teaches at the University of East Anglia. Before that he worked for five years at the World Health Organisation." His fine article-blog  follows!

http://turnerrichard7.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/tom-shakespeare-on-enabling-equality-label-jars-not-people/

Literature review, history, international perceptions on disabilities over centuries are described here. It was fine reading for me!

http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3197/3068

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/people-and-places/disability-history/

http://archive.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/fall_2005/fall_2005_lesson5_history.html

Thank you  @dear Ljubomir for lot of interesting data. I notice also the fashion is important cultural feature and medium to serve as space for social inclusion. 

Hi, when you mentioned artifacts I understood that you looking for something from old times not a recent ones.  I am  hard of hearing myself and it is easy for me to find something interesting for you.  Here are the links you may find interesting:

1)   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_hearing_aids

2) http://antiquescientifica.com/ANTIQUE%20EAR%20TRUMPETS.htm

It shows the pictures of old hearing aids.

3) http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Bio/BiographyDeafness.html

About cultural acceptance, it is better to read biography of a disabled person.

Hope that helps.

Dear Adam, I gave a broad continuum to consider the cultural artifacts, containing also the contemporary and symbolic meanings. I know that is really a coal mine of meanings. Thank you for support. I agree about  biographies and narratives, which give us rich data about individual and comprehensive view of someones life and also of range of artifacts of possible social inlusions or exclusions. 

Dear Beata:

In pre-Hispanic Maya culture, dwarfs play a prominent role in mythology and are often depicted in palace scenes, in the company of rulers and nobles. Hunchbacks may also be seen in palace scenes. For a detailed look, see Justin Kerr's database of Maya vases. A search for the chain "dwarf" yields 62 pieces, "hunchback" 2 pieces.

http://research.mayavase.com/kerrmaya.html

For much more on dwarfs and hunchbacks in Mesoamerican art, search for each of these words in the field at the top of the home page of the FAMSI site.

http://www.famsi.org/

In our culture, there is an old saying (Kollu Thee A'ahatin Jabbar ; which translates as anyone with disability is an extraordinary person). This saying has been planted deep inside since old times. It affected the person having disability in the sense that s/he can excel in something & it affected those around the person in expecting her/him to excel in certain area. That  is why many persons, with disabilities, have made it to the top in various fields of culture. In the middle ages, there was a giant blind poet called (Abu Ala'ala Al-Ma'arri) who produced very fine philosophical poems . In the 20 th  century, there was the blind man (Taha Hussain) who wrote many books, became the most prominent in literature, and was appointed in many posts including  the minister of culture.

It is something well known, but just in case ... In the Middle Ages, blindness was represented with a blindfold. It could be a physical blindness and spiritual blindness. Therefore, in the churches, the blindness of the Jews who had failed to see that Jesus was the Messiah is represented as a woman (the Synagogue) blindfolded.

In my opinion, sex education for people with disabilities is a prime example: Most curricula focus exclusively on inhibition of sexual impulses, abuse prevention or medical aspects of sex and reproduction; while none to my knowledge include sex-positive material (e.g., masturbation as an exploration of sexuality, negotiating desire, consent).

The Egyptians almost never depicted illness. This instance is one of the exceptions. One of the man’s legs is withered and the foot only supports itself on the toes. It is the opinion of quite a number of doctors that these deformities are due to polio. This may be the world’s oldest representation of that disease.

Priest called Rom, suffering from poliomyelitis, makes an offering. Medicine series, modern papyrus after 18th dynasty tomb relief, c. 1500 BC. Photo Credit: Gianni Dagli Orti / The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY.

The impact of polio on activity and participation can be seen in ancient Egyptian art. In this papyrus based on a 3,000-year-old stele, a priest named Rom (in other sources, a doorkeeper named Roma) has an equinus deformity of the foot and a withered leg. He leans on a staff as he balances an offering in a goblet. Some medical scholars have interpreted Rom's deformity to be the result of polio; others believe that it is not polio but a specific type of clubfoot, with secondary wasting and shortening of the leg. The mummies of Khnumu-Nekht and the pharaoh Siptah had a clubfoot and a withered leg, much like Roma's. As a child, Siptah was known to have contracted a disease that left him with an atrophied leg; he walked on it for several years before his bones matured.

HEPHAESTUS CAST FROM HEAVEN BY HERA

Homer, Iliad 18. 136 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :

"[Hephaistos addresses his wife Kharis:] ‘She [Thetis] saved me when I suffered much at the time of my great fall through the will of my own brazen-faced mother [Hera], who wanted to hide me for being lame. Then my soul would have taken much suffering had not Eurynome and Thetis caught me and held me, Eurynome, daughter of Okeanos, whose stream bends back in a circle. With them I worked nine years as a smith, and wrought many intricate things; pins that bend back, curved clasps, cups, necklaces, working there in the hollow of the cave, and the stream of Okeanos around us went on forever with its foam and its murmur. No other among the gods or among mortal men knew about us except Eurynome and Thetis. They knew since they saved me.’"

Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo 310 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.) :

"Hera was angry and spoke thus among the assembled gods: ‘. . . See now, apart from me he [Zeus] has given birth to bright-eyed Athene who is foremost among all the blessed gods. But my son Hephaistos whom I bare was weakly among all the blessed gods and shrivelled of foot, a shame and a disgrace to me in heaven, whom I myself took in my hands and cast out so that he fell in the great sea. But silver-shod Thetis the daughter of Nereus took and cared for him with her sisters: would that she had done other service to the blessed gods!’"

Dear @All, 

Thank you for magnificent answers. Please give me more time to anayze comments and reply, because of professional duties, concerned with students' theses reviews and defenses. 

There were several anonymous dwarf gods in

ancient Egypt. The dwarf gods, Ptah and Bes were

the best known and were involved in magical

practices to protect the living and the dead.

"Wayland the Smith" whose story seems to go over different countries and different ages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayland_the_Smith

One of our national heroes called the "Brain of the Katipunan" is Apolinario Mabini also called the Great Paralytic.

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=Filipinos+with+disabilities+in+history&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=ua4WVKjJGMe48gWLjIL4Ag&ved=0CHAQ7Ak4FA

Thought you might be interested in this blog

Downs syndrome represented in art;

http://www.rifton.com/adaptive-mobility-blog/blog-posts/2013/october/down-syndrome-art-paintings

.

And this fascinating journal article;

http://www.getahead.psu.edu/PDF/Starbuck%20-%20Antiquity%20of%20DS%20JCA%20-%202011%20-%20FINAL.pdf

.

Regards,

Paul.

Dear All, thank you again for inspiring contributions. 

Dear @Nizar, I notice that, treating someone with disability as extraordinary person, probably lead to social inclusion, not exclusion. Being not typical was kind of nobilitation ?  

Dear @Kamal, thank you for expressing concret steps toward social inclusion towards persons with disabiliities, meant as 10% payment for studies. Concept of positive discrimination is also interesting idea for supporting some groups, who are most excluded as persons with intellectual disabilities as well as psychiiatric illnesses. 

Dear @Fermin, thank you for highlighting blindfold as medieval artifact for spiritual or physical blidness. What do you think, was blindfold the symbol of exclusion or inclusion of the people with disabilities ? I know, that medieval times were much differenciated  in the approach to disabilities in different countries. 

Dear  @Concha, very interesting example of social inclusion and artifacts accessible for blind persons. I saw some sculptures in Berlin's Museum too. I will keep in mind places you indicated. 

Dear @Carl Alexander, thank you very much for exclusion example. This is also discussed broadly in Polisch academic environments. Sexual llife of persons with various types of disabilities, especially intellectual. There are many current Polish papers highlighting the general need of acceptance of sexuality meant from developmental, subjective, social and psychologcal points of views and increased need of sexual education for youth with ID. Even if adults with ID, their parents, families, feel and understand the needs for intimate and sexual relationships of people with ID, the Polish public opinion is rather restrained in acceptance. 

Dear @Pandi-Perumal I like your artifact which, definitely express social valorisation and inclusion. Thank you very much for image. 

Dear @Louis, you indicated exampple of social eclusion or even rejection as mother did towards her son with physical disability. Thank you for emhasizing this parts of Illiad and giving fabulous example for multidimensional process. Hephaistos was lame, spoke of suffering, spent life working as a smith (kind of creative work) in quasi excluded place. He received help. Entire sense of the parts you highlighted are indicating very complicated process of life line by Hephaistos as: rejection by mother - Hera, social exclusion and then social inclusion. Both parts as Hephaistos narrative and Hera's are moving. We can notice complicated  rejection of son and process of coping with giving birth to the child with disabilities by his mother - Hera. Thank you Louis, for inspiration and drawing my attention to this special relationship. 

Dear @Cecilia, 

II know that prosthesis for people with disabilities are now very modern (ex. those used by controversial Oscar Pistorius), but those you've indicated are unique. Outstanding principal examples, are social reintegration and social incusion tools, especially chosen could serve for many victims of wars around the world. Your second exampple as cat in hospice care is not surprising for me, and I agree with such idea of the supporting role of animals while long term care or terminal care. This is some way of assisting the dying persons by arranging almost home made environments with best pets. I noticed also symbols for  for social inclusion of dying persons and terminally ill. Photo from link you shared shows it. Thank you. 

Dear @David Charles,  Thank you very much fo sharing useful sources and images. I see also the examples of social inclusion in this online data base. 

Dear @Eddie and @Paul, thank you also for your examples of social inclusion. I appreciate it. 

Dear @Concha, this is really important what you wrote as architect. Without any doubts, architects play key role in increasing current social inclusion and accessibility for persons with disabilities. Universal design and design architecture without barriers,  friendly for persons with disabilities is essential.

Beta,

The ancient Greeks had a fascination for human physical beauty and their Gods were amazinly beautifull as we can see from their descriptions and representations in statues.  The inclusion among the Gods of a physically imperfect Hephaistos is quite significant and a strong social messagefor looking for beauty beyond the outer physical appearance.

Dear Louis, 

Yes, Greeks had such tremendous fascination for corporeal beauty, and this explains what they did to newborns with disabilities, especially visually recognized. Your interpretation has inspired me to ask other questions. I wonder what other beauty had Hephaistos ? We know him as  skilled, hard working God, also idealized and depicted as attractive man. Below some example from Louvre by Guillaume Coustou the Younger.

The other question would be if such evolution in ancient Greek meaning of Gods beings beauty was focused on the potencial and its highlighting what, with physical disability, visually recognized ? Was it metaphorically excluded form the open public or Gods' views but not accepted either ? What do you think ?

source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephaestus

Double-headed (or double-faced) people are depicted in ceramic figurines from the central highlands of Mesoamerica in the Middle Preclassic period (ca. 1200-600 B. C.), especially from the archaeological site of Tlatilco in the Valley of Mexico. We don't know much about their use or meaning, but they appear to be inspired by rare instances of conjoined twins, in which infants have two heads (or two faces on a single head).

Does anyone know of cases of such infants surviving to adulthood?

Image source: http://artimage.princeton.edu/files/ProductionJpegs/INV013202.jpg

(The thick legs and short arms are stylistic conventions common in figurines from the central highlands in the preclassic period.)

Dear David Charles, 

Thank you for excellent example. I will reply in the evening.

Dear Beata, a very interesting question.  Let's look at canes/staffs/walking sticks, for example.  Ancient Tribal Heads used it as a symbol of power.  Medieval European Men used it as a statement of style. Well, we do note that a stick was the primary source of assisted mobility for people with physical deformity of legs.   Now, if you look at homes that have people using prosthetic legs, crutches or wheel chairs - do you observe them / do they display them in prominent places of their homes, especially when they have visitors?  

http://disstud.blogspot.in/2013/06/everybody-artifact-history-of.html

Dear @David Charles, 

Very interesting depiction of two head twins. I have impression of kind of artistic harmony achieved in this artifact, depicting in fact corporeal disharmony. You asked if such infant survive ? I have knowledge of examples in different historical times. Some of them lead life as Siamese twins the other, because of current achievements of medicine and the anatomical possibilities, were separated, as our Polish Daria and Olga. There are lot examples of Siamese twins on websites I chosed example of famous sisters from Minnesota - Abby and Brittany Hensel, who weren't separated.  Our Polish example shows on two pictures Daria and Olga which have been separated by surgeons in Saudi Arabia. I can not be certain or, as in the case of Siemese twins: what is a social inclusion and what is exclusion. Certainly, operation of Daria and Olga was a way for a normalization their lives, in consequences it supported social inclusion. Abby and Brittany enjoy the social life fully as Siamese twins. They were allowed to participate, by generally friendly to persons with disabilities, American society. I do not have doubts.This is also example of achieved social inclusion, however I do not know entire life history of Abby and Brittany, and their family earlier experiences. 

sources:  http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/01/minnesotas_conj.php

http://www.rmf24.pl/nauka/news-rozdzielone-siostry-syjamskie-wracaja-do-zdrowia,nId,156047

http://www.pomorska.pl/apps/pbcs.dll/article AID=/20131118/INOWROCLAW01/131119220

Dear @Mantri Venkaata,

Thank you for indicating canes/staffs/walking sticks as basic artifacts present since ages, and of universal valus as blindfold mentioned by @Fermin.  I appreciate a lot the link you shared. 

Dear Aftab, 

Thank you very much for telling me of such cultural family pattern of care and role of ZWANE-BAKHUL. It seems highly interestig to me. Are there perhaps papers in English of ZWANE-BAKHUL ? Dear @Aftab, what would be the English translation of this term, but as shorter phrase ? 

In Pakistani culture, consanguinity is the primary cause of disability in next generation.

Dear @Beata and friends, UNDP’s engagement in Improving the Position of Persons with Disabilities in Serbia included a variety of activities under three pillars:policy advice, cooperation with disabled persons’ organizations and  direct support for employment of persons with disabilities.

http://www.rs.undp.org/content/serbia/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/overview.html

http://www.rs.undp.org/content/serbia/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/successstories/opening-opportunities-for-people-with-disabilities-/

Dear Beata,

Steep steps of all cultures traditionally have indicated exclusion of the lame and crippled. Shallow steps and ramps for wheelchairs more recently indicate inclusion. The building indicating inclusion par excellence is the Guggenheim Museum, architecturally provided with a ramp from top to bottom.  

Dear  @Muhammad, 

Thank you for your important remark. I discussed some time before, you comment this issue with Aftab Alam, who is writing biology based papers on this problems in Pakistani area. I wonder what are the cultural grounds for genetic problems caused by consanguinity. Is it kind of cultural norm behind for marriages or rather taboo and such relationships involved ? 

Dear @Ljubomir, 

I appreciate a lot your links concerning social inclusion in Serbia. Thank you for sharing. 

Dear  @Nelson, 

I'm impressed with the image and form of the entire  building. Your remark is very good about steep steps and shallow steps as the artifacts of social exclusion and inclusion, most probably since centuries. You gave me in your comment also a memory of kind of America's touch, sharing this image. Thank you.  

What a disabled-friendly city Barcelona, Spain is!  The gentle structure characterizes the city from its earliest times! The capital of Catalonia in general is laid out in such a way, that one rarely finds steep parts of the ascent from the sea to the gently rising top of the city above the Park Güell. This personal impression which I formed by walking the whole length of the city on foot is confirmed by the attached article on "Barcelona by Wheelchair." by Keith Oxley:

We found the city to be all that has been said about its beauty. We also found it to be very wheelchair friendly and had no problem getting about. Parking our hire car proved to be very easy with the multistory car park just off La Rambla with disabled blue badge places on the ground floor and a very helpful assistant to help us.

Venturing out it was a pleasure to drive amidst what I found to be very courteous drivers. We travelled to the Montserrat Monastery where it was quite hard work pushing the wheelchair up the sometimes steep slopes, but at least it was smooth wheeling and worth the effort. We didn't venture on the Metro as only one line appears to have lifts from road level to station platform.

Toilets did not prove to be much of a problem as restaurants and bars generally had easy access toilets. The one exception we found was the Kentucky Fried Chicken place on La Rambla, where the toilets were down a steep flight of stairs.

A minor disappointment was that in Güell Park there was no wheelchair access to the plaza where Gaudí's bench is. We had to content ourselves by looking down on it from the upper level. Güell Park itself is very wheelchair friendly although it requires a strong pusher to negotiate some of the steep slopes. Fortunately my brother and his wife had travelled up from their home near Granada to be with us for a few days and he did a lot of the pushing. Nevertheless I have lost about five kilos.

The one big problem we had was really nothing to do with Barcelona itself but more to do with the Hotel we were booked into. This was the new Torre Catalunya, where we knew the wheelchair accessible rooms were spacious. When we arrived they told us there was no room available although we had evidence of a confirmed booking of some months. They had already booked us into the Sants Hotel, just across the square where they considered that a standard size room could be converted to a wheelchair accessible room by just adding a few grab rails. It almost ruined our holiday.

Again, thanks for your fabulous web site and long may it prosper and be of benefit to tourists like us.

Yours sincerely

Keith, UK

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/transport/disabled/barcelona-by-wheelchair.html

Thank you, Beata. The example of the twins from Minnesota is extraordinary. The pre-Hispanic figurine I posted resembles them closely. If it represents a real pair of conjoined twins who lived to adulthood, this would be a remarkable case of social inclusion among the ancient farmers of the Valley of Mexico.

Dear Nelson, 

Your recent comment and narrative by Keith should serve as reference letter. Btw. this is very important to know about accessibility of public spaces in Barcelona and tell about that to my Polish friends, who use weelchairs. My Gothic Toruń in medieval part is not so friendly, I should say old town in Toruń could be perceived as the space of social exclusion, unfortunately. Persons using weelchairs would have lot of troubles intending to visit Nicolaus Copernicus House. Our museums have lifts inside, that's some paradox either. See below. I would find many such examples with steep steps as artifact of social exclusion. 

Dear David Charles, 

I was allso impressed by Abby and Brittany. Thank you for interpretation of artifact of cojoined twins from ancient Mexico. I'm very curious what life in the community they could possibly have ? What role ? I agree, that example is amazing. 

Their survival into adulthood alone would be a testament to the care and acceptance by their community. Their representation in ceramic figurines suggests some sort of importance in their society. Such figurines were sometimes buried with the dead. But all we can do is wonder and speculate at this point. The photograph I posted is from the Princeton University Art Museum, which probably means that this figurine was acquired on the black market, and thus has no archaeological context that could shed more light on its meaning.

Here is another figurine from the middle preclassic valley of Mexico (ca. 1200-600 B. C.), this time with a double face on the same head, sharing an eye. I recently saw a similar case, a newborn baby, in the news, suggesting once again that these tiny masterworks were inspired by nature.

Image source: http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/39164

Dear David Charles,

Beautiful, as the first you shared, I noticed smiling faces in this figure. This person looked dynamic and satisfied. As you said, depicting not typically developed persons (two faced with common eye) can be associated with meaning of importance. Thank you for sharing. 

Dear @Beata: Sorry for the delay in answering your question. Perhaps the answer has lost its meaning in the way that the debate has taken, but ...

In any case, the question you ask me is very difficult to answer. In the Middle Ages, it was very difficult to reach adulthood without a disability, because diseases, injuries and infections were very common, and certain syndromes genetically transmitted looked increased by marriages between close relatives or ignorance of the ways of transmission. Therefore, the social exclusion or inclusion was due more to limits on the possible "utility" or "futility" that these disabilities assumed, rather than the disability itself. However, psychic or neurological disabilities, (sorry, I do not master the proper terminology), which were incomprehensible to the society of the time, they were usually cause of systematic social exclusion, even among the upper classes. The blindfold is only a symbol, but the content of the symbol depends on the context. It is always a symbol of exclusion in cases of spiritual "blindness" (the Jews in Christian discourse, in my example), but in other cases it may be just a way of representing something difficult to visualize in a work of art.

A child who was born blind or deaf would surely be excluded by their inability to be "useful" in the prevailing social context and his enormous difficulty interacting socially and communicate, to the point of being considered simply "fool” or “crazy" But if the disability occurred in adulthood, when they had learned how to do a job, and did not prevent them from continuing to perform it, there would be no particular cause for rejection. The blindfold in Jewish synagogue is the band of guilty, because he has not "wanted to see" the Truth; the blindfold of an old blind man is the band of mercy for the hard life of someone who had the merit to grow old, which in the Middle Ages was quite difficult.

But it is also true that Charity (in a much broader sense than today’s) was a very important instrument of social and ideological control in the hands of public authorities and religious powers. And for charity to exist, they were also needed poor and/or disabled people, socially excluded whom charity “incorporated” to social peace...

If one looks on number of adaptations then probably one of the most known examples is Quasimodo alias The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Another one might be Rigoletto.

Dear Fermin, 

Thank you for comprehensive interpretation. Middle Ages had mostly social exclusiona attitudes, except charities which needed the real subject for own activities. It is indeed very good point about certain limits of "utility" and "futility" focused in persons with disabilities. Some phenomena was in Geel, the place of European (perhaps even world) social inlusion in Middle Ages, in 7th century. I never found the primary and basic idea and cause, of why people with disability were accepted in medieval Belgium, without any barriers ? There was however  the legend of St. Dimphne, but what made the residents be so friendly to foreigners with disabilities ? I can suppose that religious ground was important but if only ? That's the issue. Below some example from Geel.  

source: http://www.flanderstoday.eu/living/word-mouth

Dear Tomy, 

Of course Hunchback from the Notre Dame was most probably also inspiration from the real life for V. Hugo. His lonely life is example of social exclusion. I found however some  ideas of emic (internal) understanding of otherness within socially rejected groups, illustrated as friendship with Esmeralda, depicted by the writer.

There's an old-ish volume, Fareed Haj's Disability in Antiquity that might be of use to you. 

Many masking cultures in Native North America, such as the Cherokee False Face tradition, value masks that seem to show unilateral changes, such as those found in palsy or stroke victims.  I am unaware of any work that has examined this issue systematically, however.

Dear  @A.Jamie, 

Thank you for the reference. This is really good trace and brilliant idea of exploring also Native American artifacts, while thinking of disability in the contexts of social inclusion or exclusion. 

Dear @Brian, 

Thank you for reference. I really appreciate it. 

urban architecture and "the way to go" as cultural artifact of exclusion, see link

https://www.google.de/search?q=der+kampf+gegen+die+dummheit+hat+gerade+erst+begonnen&biw=1600&bih=752&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=FzMbVKSMO8nnaMbfgsAD&ved=0CCAQsAQ

@ Concha, Stanisław Lem defined three levels of geniuses on the basis of different or advanced thinking in his book The Perfect Vacuum. These levels are:

3rg grade genius - such person spends almost all his/her live in poverty, but before his/her death thoughts are recognised allowing such person to die in moderate well-being.

2nd grade genius - such person spends all his/her life in poverty and also dies so. Thoughts are recognized only by next generations, allowing writers to write books type of "Had he/she been recognized in time, then he/she would have............"

1st grade genius - thoughts of such persons are never recognized. These persons think in so different way that they spend all their lives either in jail or in madhouses and they also die there.

As an Occupational Therapist, we use art to help individuals with disabilities regain important functional occupations as well as to express emotions that support or impede health and wellbeing. We were founded over 100 years ago by 7 founders, one of whom was an artist and we're the only health care professional with that unique background. With all that said as an intro, I thought I'd add to this interesting thread some of my thoughts.   I'm especially moved by the work of Jessie Park and others with ASD -- you may want to explore art by and about individuals with Autism...For example, Jessie transferred her intense interest in edges into art....  http://the-art-of-autism.com/   and http://www.purevisionarts.org/artists/jessica-park/.  You can find some well articulated ideas at http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/ojot/  [a free online journal in our profession]. 

Dear @Concha and @Tommy, it is a fine issue on social inclusion of gifted, both children and adolescents. Case study-inquiries on their educational needs in Australia is attached!

http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/etc/Past_Inquiries/EGTS_Inquiry/Submissions/86_Goldfields_LLEN.pdf

Dear All,

A very good example is la chanson of Georges Brassens: La mauvaise reputation which was written against hypocrisy and also some disabilities have been mentioned. One can see it at as a good example of modern French (?) folklore.

I suggest you to listen to the song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26Nuj6dhte8

Bad Reputation

In the village, without pretension,

I have a bad reputation

Whether I make an effort or whether I stay quiet

I am regarded as an I don't know what!

Yet I don't do harm to anyone

By going on my own sweet way

But these good folks don't like that

You follow another way than them

No, the good folks don't like that

You follow another way than them

Everyone speaks ill of me,

Except for the dumbs, that goes without saying

The day of the 14th of July

I stay in my cosy bed

The marching music

Doesn't concern me

Yet I don't do harm to anyone

By not listening to the bugle that sounds

But these good folks don't like that

You follow another way than them

No, the good folks don't like that

You follow another way than them

Everyone points at me

Except for those without arms, that goes without saying

When I run into an unlucky thief,

Chased by cultural chap

I stick out my foot and why keep it quiet,

The cultural chap finds himself on the ground

Yet I don't do harm to anyone

By letting apple thieves have a run

But these good folks don't like that

You follow another way than them

No, the good folks don't like that

You follow another way than them.

Everyone pounces on me

Except for those without legs, that goes without saying

No need to be a Jeremiah

To guess the fate that awaits me

If they find a rope to their liking

They will put it around my neck

Yet I don't do harm to anyone

By following the paths that don't lead to Rome

But these good folks don't like that

You follow another way than them

No the good folks don't like that

You follow another way than them.

Everyone will come to see me hanged

Except for the blind, of course.

Taken from http://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-mauvaise-r%C3%A9putation-bad-reputation.html#ixzz3E3YueMPr

Has anybody been lucky enough to see the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia? This architectural wonder is completely disabled friendly. Here is a route from Martin Place Railroad Station to the Opera House: http://www.sydneynewyearseve.com/accessibility/accessible-vantage-points/sydney-opera-house-accessibility-features/martin-place-station-sydney-opera/

Dear All, thank you for your thoughts and inspiring support. 

Dear @Concha, you are right about those  gifted children and youth, Ministry of Polish Education  designed gymnasium and high school in Torun for gifted adolescents from entire Poland. They need also kind of special support however word special in this context awakes controversy. 

Dear @Tomy, thank you for sharing typology by Stanislaw Lem. The autor wrote science - fictions but was visionary in many aspects of real social life.  I always admire and apprciate your specific sense of humor, dear @Tomy. 

Dear @Rondalyn, I visited interesting websites and pages you shared and saw many similarities to the work I enjoyed, while working for a few years as occupational therapist with adults with developmental disabilities (DD), intellectual disabilities (ID), and dual diagnosis (DD). Thanks for link to the journal of OT. I agree, that art (but rather creativity) used as a therapeutic tool is giving everyday goal to the lives of persons with disabilities. I used to work as creative writing therapist but, I know many fabulous artisitc artworks by participants lead by my colleagues. I share below artwork  (first picture) made by participant of Workshop for Developing Creativity of Persons with Disabilities in Torun. 

Dear @Ljubomir thank you for the document concerning gifted. I'm aware that they need lot of public attention too. 

Dear @Andras, lyrics as artifacts of disability was great idea to share thought of social exclusion personally experienced, however with some supremacy felt and expressed over so called "good folks" probably the bourgeoisie. I like this lyrics, thank you. 

Dear @Nelson, I wish to visit this Australian wonder from the inside. Perhaps I use now online possibilities and directory to get more knowledge of this amazing building. Thank you for sharing example of social inclusion associated with architecture.

Please, have look below (second picture) I enclose some example shared on FB by my colleague Xavier who is using wheelchair. He did not mentioned what country was so creative in thinking of social inclusion ?

Hi Beata and Nelson,

It's not just the Sydney Opera House, the National Construction Code and  Building Code of Australia set standards that require any buildings that are accessible by the general public to be wheel-chair friendly. This is a result of our anti-discrimination legislation that covers a wide range of issues;

https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/disability-rights/disability-standards-and-guidelines#premises

.

Dear Beata,

Good folk was not a good translation. Originally «les brav’s gens”  which means hypocrites.

Dear  @Andras, 

Translation is clear enough to feel the irony. Thak you, for remark. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Sebasti%C3%A1n_de_Morra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_of_Art_and_Curiosities,_Ambras_Castle

https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/museum-and-garden/whats/re-framing-disability-portraits-royal-college-physicians

Dear Carmen, 

Thank you for excellent examples of artifacts to this thread. Please, would you tell - are these, in your opinion, examples for social inclusion or exclusion ?

Dear @Concha,

Thank you for some humorous accent on Sunday and link to G. Brassens song, .As in the lyrics  Marinette was every time  ahead, one step before the poet. Perhaps more gifted (?) and exluded (?) Anyway, this is hilarious song about Marinette above her time - even resurrected :-) 

What else comes to my mind:

The work of Emil Cioran. He wrote a lot about depression, illness, exclusion, psychiatry, suicide, describing the parisian philosophical community but also said he wrote about his own experiences. However to me it seems like he was more an empathic onlooker suffering from what he saw than affected. Maybe worthy to read.

It starts with a lyrical freakout - literally - and ends with 'consistency'... eternal recurrence. Bad news: Intelligence won't help here. Or have you ever seen any Oscar Wilde reinvent himself from scratch? Break free from the 'dry mud'? It rarely happens that any intelligent person clashes through the wall of bookshelves. Especially not through a wall of bookshelves filled with the very own books. Did you? The 'very intelligent' are by far the worst. They don't hesitate to fill their bookshelves with even more books.

Girls, @Concha and @Carmen, 

Thank you for contributions and thoughts. I have in mind also an author who expressed on pages dark moods and social exclusion, subiectively felt oppressions, as well as social incomprehension - Franz Kafka.

@Carmen, about the bookshelves rich in valuable volumins, our well known novelist and drama writer Slawomir Mrozek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82awomir_Mro%C5%BCek ) had such opinion. He was known from special sense of humor. I heard at the meeting with this author, his brillian reply to the journalist about his recent readings and favorite authors. He said Some people are reading some are writing. I'm writing. I do not suppose he did not read others books at all, nor wasn't intelligent, but his answer was surprising. 

With regard to information provided and gathered in current days, I would like to mention again Lem's "The Perfect Vacuum". One author of there mentioned books states:

On the basis of these findings author in the end proposes to destroy all books published after 1900, which would also save human race problems with A-bombs. To the credit of the autor it is necessary to mention that he also proposes to start the process of destroying of the books with his own book as the first.

Dear @Concha, 

I agree - researchers do read a lot, no single doubt about that. Writers ? it depends on the circumstances and the writer,  as we can see in Mrozek or Lem concepts, which was expressed by @Tomy. 

Dear @Tomy, 

Stanislaw Lem was also good life observer and the same time crypto joker. I understand his points as personal displeasure and despair, which are immanent parts of the writers lives. Thank you for Lem's despair and dilemmas. I appreciate it. 

Dear All, 

My other example of social inclusion of persons wih physical  disabilities is associated with fashion as domain of culture and such field of access. This fashion show refers to Western culture, so maybe slightly controversial to the other cultures. I'm not reffering now to the fashion itself and depicted style, but to the presence of model with disability and models without such. The issue which drew my attention, is conected with fashion show perceived as area for inclusion. I know shows only with participants with disabilities - this one is different. 

source: http://coquettesstylingblog.blogspot.com.es/2013_07_01_archive.html

Here goes one positive artifact!

Very nice, dear @Tomy, thank you. 

Phisical or mental disabilities are, in some ways, "sacralized", in many societies. That is a curious compensatory system of social inclusion. The blind is thought to possess a deeper sight.., etc. In art, one may just remember the role of the "bouffons" (deformed, mad, or olygophrenics), painted by Velazquez and other great artists, in the company of kings, the royal family and court.

Great hint, Anonio, TY!

Man who laughs (Victor Hugo) and Statues of Justice (which are usually made as blind).

Dear @Concha, @Tomy and @Antonio, thank you for sharing your excellent thoughts and inspirations.

Referring to @Concha's comment I must indicate interesting Spanish Actor - Pablo Pineda with DS, who completed university studies and works as actor and the loud voice of persons with Down syndrome in Spain. I watched once the movie "Yo tambien" ("Me too" )(2009) with him, and was amazed by him and also by the artistic level of this astonishing cinema. I recommend this movie as artifact of broadly meant social inclusion. Btw, Spanish cinema is excellent not since 2009.

Below trailer to "Yo tambien"(Me too) (2009) directed by Antonio Naharro and Alvaro Pastor. Many issues of social inclusion were depicted in spheres of social life, work, intimate relationships, their boarders and limitations, were illustrated in this movie as well.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3CfN3Rrvi4

I am not clear why your list does not include medical devices.

Prosthetic limbs from 18th century to present. Artificial hands more cosmetic than fuctional.

Hearing Aids - 18th and 19th century represent both.  Although inclusive in intent, tended to be exclusionary as they called attetnion to the disability.

Wheelchairs 19th century to present.  Allowed mobility for people who could not walk. 

Dear Alan, 

Probably this issue was waiting for your attention. Truly speaking some of artifacts associated with disabilities were indicated by @Fermin, @Nelson and @Tomy.

Your remarks are very interesting to me. I need to  express notion,that - weelchair was initiated in ancient times and was probably designed as modification of the chariot. In my earlier threads I mentioned this. I really appreciate  your contribution to this thread, being aware of many war victims (children, youngsters, adults) world wide during centuries and artifacts which were designed to them or to army veterans. I hope you will share broader your historical knowledge in this thread. 

For artificial Limbs during Civil War - Guy Hasagawa _Mending broken Soldiers_

Although NMHM has an excelelnt collectionnof hearing aids, I am not aware of a good history of them.   I am also looking for a good history of the wheelchair - which i suspect evolved from the hand cart rather than a chariot.

Dear Alan,

Wheelchair as artifact is also symbol of culture of  "Wheel-skers" in Poland. I'l try to look for more detailed historical knowledge about origins of wheelchair too, after your inspiration. Thank you for reference.

I attach some current design concept of the wheelchair from page of my friend Xavier. 

Dear Alan, 

Here are some ideas on slides as starting point to more comprehensive exploration of the historical sources.. Take a look on example from China 1300 B.C. 

http://www.wheelchairnet.org/wcn_wcu/slidelectures/sawatzky/wc_history.html

Know that?:

HAND, Wayland D, “Deformity, Disease and Physical Ailment as Divine Retribution”, in Festschrift Matthias Zender. Studien zu Volkskultur, Sprache und Landesgeschichte (Bonn: L. Röhrscheid, 1972), I, 519-525.

It goes in a very different direction from that hinted at in a previous mail.

Dear Antonio, 

Thank you. No, I did not know this text. Seems interesting. I'll try to find it. 

Dear Kamal, 

I have all my good memories associated with Paris. I'm impressed by your intentions and shared Renaissance painting by Andrea Mantegna, Pallas and the Vices. Thank you for contribution. I hope you had good time in Paris too. 

here is more about the painting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_of_the_Virtues_(Mantegna)

Dear @Concha, 

Thank you for inspiring comments. I need to say, that Pablo Pineda is since a few years present in contents of my lecture in Intellectual disabilities. Thank for the other names. I think many cultures and countries have such individual icons of many constructive features associated with disabilities and human pontentiality. In Poland such icon is Jan Mela, young man born in 1988, who became physical disable, after accident with electricity and high voltage, while playing in the old railroad station.  He was electrocuted by a 15,000 volt shock and must have had a parts of limbs amputated. Jan received a lot of emotional support form his family ground, while adjusting to the new life after amputations and professional help as well, even from his mother who is psychologist. 

Since then his story runned to the  life of person who deals with extraordinary and unusual passions, I mean polar expeditions, public presence and leading own foundation supporting others with physical disability. His example is for me associated with social inclusion. I'm not against cutural construction of the heroes with disabilities in the background of social inclusion. I completely accept it. 

more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Mela