Categories of physical difference and disability in the societal creations of ancient Rome and modern America

Abstract

Disability is a modern concept, but categorizations of physical differences are not so new. Looking at the ways physical differences are categorized and defined can say a lot regarding the way that people with various physical differences are viewed and treated in a particular society. I examine evidence of categorizations of physical difference from Roman law, medicine, religion, and art in the later half of the Republic through the high Empire. I then use this collection as a lens through which to view modern categorizations of physical difference and definitions of disability.