300Remastering independence: The re-education of Belgian blinded soldiers of the Great War, 1914-1940

Abstract

In this article the history of re-educational initiatives for Belgian blinded soldiers of the Great War –and the societal impact these initiatives had in the Interwar period–is connected to a contemporary re-interpretation of the central role attributed to independence in the way we talk about and deal with persons with disabilities. In order to do so, the Great War, first of all, will be described as a watershed in the way one talked about and dealt with persons with visual disabilities in general. In particular it will be argued that the re-educational initiatives –much more than earlier educational initiatives for persons with visual disabilities– focussed on economic independence. The ideal was to restore the mutilated soldiers completely to economic life. After having described the concrete initiatives that were deployed in order to realize this discursive goal, it, secondly, will be demonstrated that this dream of independence was challenged from different sides. Not only were there the concrete life circumstances of the blinded soldiers themselves that often contradicted the dream of full autonomy. There also co-existed a discourse that instead of promoting independency emphasized the miserable state blinded persons were said to find themselves in. By juxtaposing the installation of a new discourse focussing on independence with the revival of a longstanding tradition of speaking in terms of pity and helplessness, the article argues for a more nuanced picture of the role played by the Great War in the way one spoke about and dealt with persons with visual disabilities in Belgium.

Key words: re-education, blinded soldiers, Great War, Belgium.