Disability in the Middle East
A Bibliography Comprising Materials with Technical, Cultural and Historical Relevance to Child and Adult Disabilities, Special Needs, Social and Educational Responses and Rehabilitation
Compiled, introduced and annotated by M. Miles
West Midlands, UK
m99miles@hotmail.com
For a list of abbreviations used in this document, consult the glossary.
Historical Items: 1750–1970
(materials written in, and/or concerned with, this period)
ABBATE–PACHA O. (1882) Nouvelles observations physiologiques de subjectivité chez certains aveugles. Bull. de l'Institut d'Égypte (Second series) 3: 22–30.
Incidentally mentions (p. 23) that "Ici, au Caire, nous avons aussi depuis peu d'années une école d'aveugles, sous l'habile direction de mon ami Onsy–Bey. C'est une établissement où on apprend quelques métiers, un peu à lire et écrire, ainsi que quelques notions de géographie." (Cf. FATTAH, below)
`ABD AL–DA'IM, `Abdallah (1960) Ta'rikh al–tarbiyah [History of Education]. Damascus. 327 pp.
ABDEL–SALAM, ABDEL–GHAFAR, & AL–AATHAMY F. (1969) [Standardization of the Draw–a–Man test on Lebanese Children (Abstract).] Beirut: Beirut Arab Univ. 28 pp. (Arabic, with English summary).
`ABD AL–WAHHAB, Fu'ad [1964] Al–Tadlik al–riyadi [Handbook of Massage.] Alexandria: Dar al–Matbu`at al–Jami`iyah. 185 pp.
'AKIL, Fakhir (1945) Arabic: [Psychology and its applications to education.] Damascus: Maktabat Al'uloom Wal'Adab.
AL–A`SAR Y, KUBBAH JA, RAHMAH A RUSTUM A (1962) Usus al–tarbiyah we–`ilm al nafs [Education and psychology. (Special reference to primary schools)] Second edn. Aleppo.
AMMAR, Hamed (1954) Growing Up in an Egyptian Village. Silwa Province of Aswan. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 316 pp.
A few references to blindness and mental handicap, amidst the picture of childhood.
EL–ANI, Shakir & BISSISSO, Saadi (1953) Comparative Survey of Juvenile Delinquency. part V, Middle East. New York: UN Dept Social Affairs, Division of Social Welfare.
Listing Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.
BAASHER, Taha (1966) Mental Health Activities in Rural Health Units in Iraq and Lebanon. MH/68.8. WHO.
BAASHER T. (1975) The Arab countries. In: J.G. Howells (Ed.) World History of Psychiatry, 547–78. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Tracing history of psychiatry in the region, notes (pp. 574–75) establishment of state mental hospitals near Damascus in 1929, near Aleppo (1956); also comments on facilities in Lebanon, with brief mention of mental retardation.
BADRI, Malik B. (1966) Arabic: [The Psychology of Children's Drawings.] Beirut: Al–Fatah Publications.
Based on analysis of more than 1,400 drawings.
BALDENSPERGER, Philip J. (1899) Woman in the East. Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly 132–59.
Long in Palestine, the author discusses ‘Sickness’ (151–5). Suggests reasons why less "born cripples and deformed children" are seen than in the West. High rate (95%) of ophthalmic disease in boys attending a mission school.
BARRADA, Hassan (1946) Blindness in Egypt. Historical, Statistical and Recent Campaign, presented to the National Society Conference for the Prevention of Blindness. Cairo: Govt Egypt, Min. Public Health. 21 pp.
Includes historical review of Ophthalmia, and a few paragraphs (pp. 7–8) on the condition of blind people
BARRET A. (1878) Contributions à la géographie médicale. Beyrouth. Archives de Médicine Navalle (Paris) 30: 81–89.
[Rickets in Beirut.]
AL–BARRI, Zakariya Ahmad (1964) Ahkam al–aulad fi 'l–islam [Study of Islamic law concerning children.] Cairo. 102 pp.
BARZILAI D. & HARRIS P. (1965) The problem of endemic goiter in Wadi Ara and the Jordan Valley – Northern Israel. Israel J. Med. Sci. 1: 62–70.
Bethesda Blindenheim [1908] Das Blindenheim Bethesda, seine Pfleglinge und ihr Tagewerk. (Drei Skizzen als Beigabe). Halle: Wischan & Burkhardt. 12 pp.
Bethesda Blindenheim [1911] Die Arbeit in Bethesda, dem Heim der blinden armenischen Kinder in Malatia am Euphrat, wie sie anfing und wie sie jetzt geworden ist. Halle: Wischan & Burkhardt. 12 pp.
Brief reports on work by Pastor Ernst J. Christoffel.
Blind Teaching the Lame. The Missionary News (London) No. 42, June 1, 1869, p. 69.
Brief item on school for blind and disabled people at Beirut. Material in Moon script was used by blind readers. Notes a "kindred school at Damascus." See SCOTT, & TRISTRAM (below).
Blindness in British African and Middle East Territories. Being the report of the Joint Committee appointed by the Colonial Office and the National Institute for the Blind, following the visit of a Delegation to Africa and certain British Middle East Territories between July, 1946, and March, 1947. (1948) London: HMSO. xii + 99 pp.
Comprehensive report with indexes. Some notes on Palestine.
BREWSTER P.G. (1960) A sampling of games from Turkey. East and West 11: 15–20.
BURTON, Isabel (1876) The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land, from my private journal. 2 Vols. London: Henry King.
In Vol. I are glimpses of the Damascus leper hospital (p.45), use of kohl (88–89), ophthalmic problems (222, 281), animals in health and under abuse (253–63), a crippled child (284) and some patients to whom Mrs. Burton gave basic health care (311–14).
BUSSE, Ludger (1994) Ferdi Garati und seine Schule für Gehörlose und Blinde in Istanbul – Die Ursprünge des türkischen Sonderschulwesens. Hörgeschädigten Pädagogik 48: 227–35.
Describes the opening by F. Garati of a formal deaf school at Istanbul in 1889, and its functioning until it closed in 1926. A blind school was added in 1890, but closed seven years later.
CALHOUN C.W. (1882) A study of leprosy at Mount Lebanon, Syria. Med. Record (New York) 22: 692.
CAUGHEY J.E. & FOLLIS R.H. (1965) Endemic goiter and iodine malnutrition in Iraq. Lancet i: 1032–34.
High goitre prevalence in Northern Iraq among school children and hospital inpatients.
CHAGLASSIAN, Hrant T. (1953) Treatment of leprosy. Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on Tropical Medicine. Istanbul.
[CHAPMAN, Mary F.] (1944) The school for the deaf in Jerusalem. Volta Review 46: 150–51.
Part editorial, partly quoting Miss Chapman's letter about the school she established at Jerusalem for deaf boys from all over Palestine, after working for decades in South Asia.
CHEMALI B. (1910) Naissance et premier âge au Liban. Anthropos (Vienna) 5; 734, 1072 + plates.
CHESTERS G.E. (1955) Study of services for children in Syria. Unpubl. report for the UN Technical Assistance Programme. (ST/TAA/J/Syria R2).
Children of the Realm of Silence (n.d.) Marsovan, Turkey: King School for the Deaf.
See F.C. GAGE, and J.K. GREENE, both below.
CHRISTOFFEL, Ernst J. [1912] Wie vier deutsche Jungen uns in Malatia am Euphrat besuchten. Malatia: [Blindenheims "Bethesda"]. 102 pp.
[See Bethesda Blindenheim, above]
COCHRAN, James P. (1899) Treatment of the sick and insane in Persia. Amer. J. Insanity 56: 105–107.
Brief, supercilious account of some traditional rural methods.
COWAN J.W., NAJJAR S.S., SABRY Z.I., TANNOUS R.I. & SIMAAN F.S. (1965) Some further observations on goiter in Lebanon. Amer. J. Clinical Nutrition 17: 164–70.
Survey of goitre in 424 school children and study and prophylaxis in two different groups in a mountain village.
DANIEL, Robert L. (1970) American Philanthropy in the Near East 1820–1960. Athens: Oxford UP. xiii + 322 pp.
Among many child care, orphan and educational projects, brief references are made to work with deaf and blind children. In 1902, "the Girls' School at Urfa [Sanliurfa, Turkey] began instruction for the blind under Mary Haroutunian," who had received training in London; while in 1910, "the Anatolia Girls' School at Marsovan [Merzifon] organized the first class for deaf children" (p. 97). (See GREENE, 1916, below). At Alexandropol [now Gyumri, Armenia] a special school was opened c. 1922 for children blinded by trachoma (p. 159); during the 1920s, Near East Relief was serving 200 blind and 60 deaf children, and a braille code was developed for use with Armenian children (pp. 191–192, 284). Special schools were transferred to the Greek government in 1930. See also pp. 250, 254–255, 259–60, where physical disability and artificial limbs appear.
DENNIS, James S. (1899) Christian Missions and Social Progress. A sociological study of foreign missions. 3 Vols. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier.
II: 388–389 briefly reviews work by missionaries for blind people in Persia, Turkey, Syria and Egypt.
DENNIS, Wayne (1957) Performance of Near Eastern children on the Draw–a–Man test. Child Development 28: 427–30.
Study based on c. 700 Draw–a–Man tests in regular classrooms by children aged from 5 to 10 years in Lebanon and Egypt.
DENNIS W. (1957) A cross–cultural study of reinforcement of child behaviours. Child Development 28: 431–38.
Study of American, Arab, Armenian and Jewish children aged 5 to 10 in Beirut.
DENNIS W. (1960) Causes of retardation among institutional children: Iran. J. Genetic Psychology 96: 47–59.
DENNIS W. & NAJARIAN, Pergrouhi S. (1957) Infant development under environmental handicap. Psychological Monographs 71 (7) 1–13 (No. 436).
Ability testing of creche infants and 4½–6 year olds from an understaffed foundling home compared with matched group from ordinary families of Beirut.
DE SOUZA–ARAUJO H.C. (1929) Leprosy Survey Made in Fourty Countries (1924–1927). Rio de Janiero: Oswald Cruz institute. 400 pp. (‘Fourty’ sic)
Reports a voyage around the leprosy world, with observations and references from most of the countries visited. India and Burma (228–62); Iraq (263–65); Palestine (265–69); Egypt (269–73); Turkey (291–93). Most of the material is medical, but some useful social and historical data appears.
DICKSON H.R.P. (1949) The Arab of the Desert. A glimpse into Badawin life in Kuwait and Sau'di Arabia. London: George Allen & Unwin. 648 pp.
Field notes 1929–1936, some 50 years after DOUGHTY (q.v.). Notes on blind people (pp. 30, 142, 289), disabling diseases and medicines (pp. 159–60, 175–78, 505–14), child rearing (pp. 172–80), contrasting responses to disabled people (pp. 289, 500).
AL–DIWANI, Mustafa (1961) Hayat al–tifl [How to treat children from infancy.] Second edn. Cairo: Maktabat al–Nahdat al–Misriyah. 345 pp.
DODD, Stuart C. (1934) A Controlled Experiment on Rural Hygiene in Syria.. Soc. Sci. Series. Amer. Univ. Beirut. xv + 336 pp.
DODD S.C. (1945) The Village Welfare Service in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. Royal Central Asian J. 32: 87–90.
Begun in 1930s by American Univ. Beirut, with health, infant care and education outreach camps to villages.
DOLBEY, Robert V. & OMAR, Mustafa (1924) A note concerning the incidence of goitre in Egypt. Lancet 207: 549–50.
Report on 216 goitre cases treated, 1919–23. (Cf. Greenwald, q.v.).
DOUGHTY, Charles (1921) Travels in Arabia Deserta. Second edn. 2 Vols. Cambridge UP. xiv + 690, xxxvii + 623 pp., + maps.
Detailed account of Syrian/Arabian travels between 1875 & 1878, and of life, survival and death among Bedouin and settled populations. Frequent mention of disease (e.g. I: 254–58, 314–16; 617–18; II: 4–5), for which Doughty sometimes offered treatment; and of people with disabilities, especially visual impairment (e.g. I: 42, 527, 547–48, II: 308, 343, 347–48, 358, 380–81, 383, 408–13, 441) and mental problems (e.g. I: 498; II: 14, 276, 287–88, 293, 298, 384, 437), but also some deaf or physically disabled people (e.g. I: 222; II: 8, 30, 48–49, 67, 82, 302, 328, 358, 410, 466). Not all are listed clearly, in the extensive index.
DROOBY, Ala'uddin S (1960) Changing child rearing patterns in the Middle Eastern family. Leb. MJ 13: 50–53.
Notes the quickening pace of life, westernisation and transition to nuclear family patterns.
DROOBY A.S. (1962) The psychiatrist's role in the management of mentally retarded children's parents. Leb. MJ 15: 100–105.
Much the same counselling problems as are found in the 1990s.
ELWORTHY F.T.. Evil Eye. In: ERE Edinburgh: Clark.
Belief in the Evil Eye and use of protective amulets were common in Arab lands. (See note under BÜRGEL). Connection was also made between the evil eye and hunchbacks or visually impaired people.
ETON W. (1795) Account of the Arabian mode of curing fractured limbs. Communicated to Dr. Guthrie of Petersburgh, by Mr. Eaton [sic], formerly consul at Bassora. Medical Commentaries 10: 167–71.
ETON W. (1798) A Survey of the Turkish Empire. London. Reprinted 1973, Mew York: Arno Press.
Notes on efficacy of splints for fractures, and other medical matters, pp. 218–21.
ESHRAGHI R. (1969) Farsi: [Social aspects of leprosy.] Meshed MJ 3: 381–89.
FARRELL, Gabriel (1950) A report and recommendations regarding the blind in Iran, prepared for the Imperial Organization for Social Services. Teheran. 37 pp.
FATTAH, El Sayed A. (1954) Beirut Conference on Perso–Arabic Braille. In: Proceedings of the World Assembly of the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind, UNESCO House, Paris, August 5–13, 1954, 75–78. Boston.
Brief history of Arabic braille, mainly in Egypt, starting with Dr. Onsy opening a blind school at Cairo in the 1870s and producing Arabic braille known as Onsy's Point. The Beirut conference on Perso–Arabic braille took place over 70 years later in Feb. 1951, to unify the many braille schemes in use by then. (Cf. ABBATTE–PACHA, above; ZAKI PACHA, below)
GAGE, Frances C. (1915) Teaching the deaf in Turkey. Volta Review 17: 302.
Note on deaf school at Marsovan [Merzifon], said to be the only one in Turkey (But see BUSSE, above; also "Children of the Silence" above, and J.K. GREENE, below.
GARABEDIAN G.A., MATOSSIAN R.M. & HATEM J.M. (1963) Poliomyelitis in Lebanon. A statistical, serological and virological study. Leb. MJ 16: 216–29.
GASTER, Gwen ((1959) Our Blind Family. London: Highway Press. 63 pp.
Nur Ayin School for the Blind, Isfahan, Iran.
AL GHANIM, Abd Allah Muhammad (1965) Report on the conditions of the blind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the area of the Middle East. Riyadh: Ministry of Educ., Dept Spec. Educ.
EL GHANEM, Abdallah Mohammad (1966) Report on special education in Saudi Arabia for the education and rehabilitation of handicapped children. Presented at the Third Intl Seminars on Special Educ. held in Badharsburg, West Germany, September 7, 1966. 36 pp.
GOICHON A–M (1959–1960) Oeuvres de bienfaisance et oeuvres sociales en Syrie. Orient Vol. 3 (1959) No. 11: 99–122; 12: 95–128. Vol. 4 (1960) No. 13: 53–78; 14: 73–84, 217–37. Visits to 40 social welfare institutions and organisations, e.g. orphanages, old people's homes, dispensaries, nursing school, in several cities: their histories and functioning. Annexes (pp. 217–37) give lists of registered welfare associations. In No. 13, 66–71 concern activities for and by blind people.
GRANQVIST, Hilma (1947) Birth and Childhood among the Arabs. Studies in a Muhammadan Village in Palestine. Helsingfors: Söderström; Copenhagen: Munksgaard. 289 pp.
GRANQVIST H. (1950) Child Problems among the Arabs. Studies in a Muhammadan Village in Palestine. Helsingfors: Söderström; Copenhagen: Munksgaard. 336 pp.
Substantially referenced studies, with village women's accounts. See e.g. beliefs about ‘changelings’ pp. 102–104. Granqvist was concerned to throw modern light on literature from earlier times.
GRANT, Elihu (Second edn, 1921) The People of Palestine. Philadelphia: Lippincott. (First publ. in 1907, as ‘The Peasantry of Palestine, life, manners and customs of the village.’)
Describes (93–109) diseases and indigenous remedies, responses of society to people with a range of disabilities, and the beginnings of formal health services, hospitals and asylums.
GREENE, Joseph K. (1916) Leavening the Levant. Boston: Pilgrim Press.
Paragraph (p. 166) on "a department for the deaf" opened in 1910 under a Greek woman, Miss Philadephefs, at the Anatolia Girls School, Marsovan. This work was named the King Memorial School for the Deaf, after Martha A. King. Teaching methods were imported from America (presumably Oralism), and in 1914 there were 15 pupils. (See "Children of the Realm of Silence," and Frances GAGE, both above). Paragraph (p. 180) on a school for blind children at Urfa [Sanliurfa], said to be the first in Turkey, opened by Mary Haroutunian, who had been teaching in a day school under Miss Shattuck. Mary lost her sight, was sent to London for training, and returned to teach blind children. In 1914 the school had 32 students.
GREENWALD, Isidor (1949) The history of goiter in Africa. Bull. Historical Medcn. 23: 155–85.
pp. 174–76 quotes various negative reports of goitre in Egypt, until 1924 note by Dolbey & Omar, q.v.
HADADIAN, Azar (1996) History of deaf education in Iran. In: R. Fischer & T. Vollhaber, with H. Zienert (Ed.s) Collage: works on international deaf history, 117–123. Hamburg: Signum.
Mainly an account of the work of the kindergarten teacher Jabar Baghcheban (1885–1966), who began Iran's first formal educational work for deaf children in 1924 at Tabriz and who later founded a school at Teheran, and contributed original methods and approaches to teaching deaf children.
HAJ, Fareed (1968) Major causes of visible disability in the medieval Near East. [Thesis, New York?]. Ann Arbor, MI: Univ. Microfilms, 1972. 276 pp.
Haj embarked on his studies after working as "an itinerant teacher for the blind in a Galilean Arab community," helping visually impaired children to enrol in ordinary village schools. He found some blind children already casually integrated in remote schools. This caused him to look further into the cultural roots of this unexpected tolerance. See below, HAJ (1970), under ‘Antiquity.’
HÄNTZSCHE J.C. (1863) Lepra in Persien. Virchows Archiv 27: 180–83.
HARFOUCHE J.K. (1965) Infant Health in Lebanon: customs and taboos. Beirut: Khayat.
HARFOUCHE J.K. (1966) Growth and Illness Patterns of Lebanese Infants (Birth–18 months). Beirut: Khayat.
Study of growth patterns in 365 infants.
HARFOUCHE JK, et al. (1970) Growth Charts of Lebanese Infants. Beirut: Amer. Univ. Hospital.
HASSAN, Nazira M. (1958) An educational program for mentally retarded children in Egypt. Master's dissertation, Univ. Maryland. 99 pp.
HATEM J. & FAKHOURY A. (1959) Etude statistique et épidémiologique de la Poliomyélite au Liban. Revue Médicale du Moyen Orient 16: 581–#.
HIRSCH, August (1883–86) Handbook of Geographical and Historical Pathology, 3 Vols., Transl. C. Creighton. London: New Sydenham Socy.
Vol. 2 gives many references for leprosy in Arabia, Persia and Syria (p. 14). Hirsch believed Arabia and Syria "quite free from endemic goitre and cretinism" (p. 145) [which now seems questionable]. Vol. 3, p. 735, refers to rickets among poor Beiruti children.
EL–HOWIE, Ghosn (1904) The evil eye. Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly, 148–50.
HUDSON E.H.H., MANLEY I.F. & YOUNG A.L. (1930) School health survey in Aleppo, Syria. J. Preventive Medcn. 4: 49–57.
HURBLI, Abdussami (1950) The improvement of teacher education in Syria. Ph.D. thesis, Columbia Univ. New York.
HUSAYN, Taha (1929–32) al–Ayyam. 3 Vols. Cairo: Dar al–Ma`arif.
Vol. 1 Transl. E.H. Paxton (1932) An Egyptian Childhood. Washington: Three Continents Press.
Vol. 2 Transl. H. Wayment (1948) The Stream of Days. London: Longmans.
Vol. 3 Transl. K. Cragg (1976) A Passage to France. Leiden: Brill.
Famous autobiography of the earlier years of a blind Arab who became one of Egypt's outstanding Twentieth century literary figures and modernisers.
IBRAHIM, Gindi Effendi (1932) Work among the blind in Egypt. Moslem World 22: 276–82.
Written by a blind Christian teacher. Brief historical background mentions blind schools begun at Alexandria in 1896 and at Zeitoun in 1901. From c. 1925 to 1931 the author started several more blind schools and a training workshop at Cairo, for both Muslims and Copts.
ILO (1966) Report to the Government of Iran on vocational rehabilitation and employment of the disabled. Geneva. 50 pp.
ILO (1969) Report to the Government of Iraq on Vocational Rehabilitation of the Disabled. Geneva. iii + 44 pp.
INNES W. (1886) Recherches sur l'étiologie de l'éléphantiasis des Arabes. Bull. de l'institut égyptien series II, 7: 176–85.
Institution for the Blind, Secoures aux Aveugles, Zeitoun, Cairo (Egypt) (1903). Cairo. 9 pp.
Pamphlet introducing the Institution and giving details of its foundation in 1901, the people concerned, and work of educating young blind boys. Some Arabic Braille books were being produced.
Institution for the Welfare and Education of the Blind in Egypt [1906] Arabic Braille primer. Cairo. 23 pp.
[JUDE] & Hakkim Anad (1927, November) Les troubles mentaux les plus généralement observés à Damas. L'Hygiène Mentale (monthly supplement to L'Encéphale).
Juvenile Protection Society. Damas: El–Jadida. 1954. 14 pp.
AL–KADI, Ta–Ha Muhammad (1957) Al–Usus al–ra'isiyah li–tahsin hal al–makfufin [Appeal for the blind.] Beirut. 46 pp.
KALEEL, Mousa J. (1920) When I Was a Boy in Palestine. London: Harrap. 156 pp. + illustrations.
Born in 1892 in Ram Allah, a Christian–Syrian village, Kaleel recalls his boyhood home, games, playthings, and also his schooling (pp.51–67).
KAMAL, `Ali (1967) Al–Nafs. infi`alatu–ha wa–amradu–ha wa–`ilaju–ha [Psychological ailments and their treatment.] Beirut, Baghdad: Al–Dar al–Sharkiyah. 469 pp.
KARMI, Ghada (1985) The colonisation of traditional Arabic medicine. In: R. Porter (Ed.) Patients and Practitioners. Lay perceptions of medicine in pre–industrial society, 315–39. Cambridge UP.
Shows classical Arabic medicine permeating beliefs and practices of traditional medicine in rural Syria and Jordan surveyed in late 1970s. Some notes on epilepsy, mental illness, bone–setting. Extensive linking and referencing of historical material.
KASS, Amalie M. (1987) The Syrian Medical Aid Association: British philanthropy in the Near East. Med. History 31: 143–59.
Detailed account of efforts to support British physicians in Beirut and Damascus in 1840s. Dr. Kerns did much eye work and a few disability operations (see YATES & KERNS, below).
KATCHADOURIAN, Herant (1980) The historical background of psychiatry in Lebanon. Bull. Historical Medcn. 54: 544–53.
EL KATTAN, Mahmoud Azmy (1931) The blind in Egypt. In: H. Lende, E.C. McKay & S.C. Swift (Ed.s) Proceedings of the World Conference on Work for the Blind, New York, U.S.A., April, 1931, 470–72.
Notes on formal schools, workshops, Braille, and the activities of some blind adults; also on prevention.
KEEHN, Jack D. & PROTHRO, E. Terry (1958) The meaning of ‘intelligence’ to Lebanese teachers. Brit. J. Psychology 49: 339–42.
Factor analysis of twelve teachers' ratings of c. 270 students for various traits. ‘Intelligent’ was strongly linked with ‘thoughtful,’ ‘conscientious,’ ‘persistent’ and ‘emotionally stable.’
KESKIN, Rafik M. & SAGLIK, Saim (1938) A sketch of the history of gynecology and obstretrics in Turkey. Bull. Inst. Historical Medcn. 6: 899–906.
Relates folk beliefs about necessary conduct during pregnancy to avoid deformities. Some illustrations. European medical practice slowly gained ground from the 1820s onward.
KHAIRULLAH, Amin A. (1939) A century of American medicine in Syria. Ann. Med. History (Third series) 1: 460–70.
Background of indigenous practitioners e.g. bone–setters, masseuses, itinerant oculists. American missionaries opened first modern hospital at Beirut in 1867; then specialist Eye & Ear Hospital (1909) and Children's and Orthopedic Hospital (1910); while Hospital for Mental Diseases opened in 1898 (see WALDMEIER, below).
KHATTAB, Muhammad `Adil (1964) Nashat al–tifl wa–baramiju–hu al–tarwihiyah [Activities for young children.] Cairo: Maktabat al–Kahirah al–Hadithah. 272 pp.
KOTBY M.N. (1979) Egypt. In: J. Wendler (Ed.) 75 Jahre Phoniatrie, Festschrift zu Ehren von Hermann Gutzmann, 95–100. Berlin: Humboldt–Universität.
KOUZBARIE O. & VALTAT M. (1970) Contribution à l'étiologie des atteintes auditives en Syrie, basées sure une étude audiometrique portant sur une période de 4 ans. Annales d'Oto–Laryngologie et de Chirurgie Cervico–Faciale, 87 (9): 581–84.
Data from 2,633 audiometric examinations (1707 male, 926 female), 1964–67.
LANE, Edward William (1890) An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. Written in Egypt during the years 1833–1835. Reprinted from the Third Edition, 1842. London: Ward, Lock. xxiv + 552.
Disabled people appear in various aspects of Egyptian life (most of which are not eaily found in the index). One of Lane's Arabic teachers and key informants was nearly blind (pp xii–xiii); eye disease and blindness were common (pp. 2, 3, 23, 47, 139, 236–37); blind men were generally chosen to give the call to prayer (61), and other ceremonial or peculiar offices (165, 394, 418, 476, and were also allowed to walk at night without carrying a light (107). A college of blind men studying at al–Azhar Mosque is described (192–93). Some notes are given on harmless lunatics, simpletons and ‘holy fools’ (208–211, 398, 410) Other disability items appear on pp. 111, 177, 238, 299, 361, 415, 431, 494. Massage and joint manipulation took place in the bathhouse (311–14). Basic schooling is described (48–51).
LATRON, André (1936) La Vie Rurale en Syrie et au Liban: étude d'économie sociale. Beirut: Mémoires de l'Institut Français de Damas. 273 pp.
Based on survey of c. 250 villages.
LAUTOUR # (1847) Observations sur les hôpitaux des lépreux à Damas. Gazette des hôpitaux civils et militaires (Paris). (Second series) 9: 323.
LICHTWARDT H.A. (1935) Ancient medicine in modern Persia. Ann. Med. History 7: 81–84.
Indigenous practitioners and folk remedies.
LICHTWARDT H.A. (1940) Leprosy in Iran. Leper Quarterly 14: 12–18.
London Society for Teaching the Blind to Read (1858) Twentieth Report, presented April Thirteenth, 1858.
"Lucas' system of teaching the Blind to read has been extended ... to Egypt also, where blindness so much prevails." p.8. May be first record of using embossed script to teach blind people to read in Egypt."
LUNDE, Paul & WINTLE, Justin (1984) A Dictionary of Arabic and Islamic Proverbs. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
See pp. 14, 22–23, 35, 45, 94 for proverbs embodying folk views of disability, e.g. "The mother of the mute understands what he says."
MacALISTER, Alexander (1911) Physiognomy. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh edn, 21: 550–52.
Traces the development of physiognomy from Aristotle through various Arab authors. (See T. FAHD, above).
MacCALLAN, Arthur F. (1913) Trachoma and its complications in Egypt. Cambridge UP.
MacCALLAN A.F. (1919) Causes of blindness in Egypt. Amer. J. Ophthalmology 2: 736–37.
MacCALLAN A.F. (1934) Trachoma in the British Colonial Empire. Its relation to blindness: the existing means of relief: means of prophylaxis. Brit. J. Ophthalmology 18: 626–45.
pp. 637–40, 644, trachoma and blindness in Palestine, Trans–Jordan and Egypt. "Palestine has ... a greater percentage of blind persons among her general population than any other country in the world" i.e. 843 per 100,000 (sic – but the figures 8.43% blind, 19.68% one eye blind, appear later).
MacCALLAN A.F. (1936) Trachoma. London: Butterworth. xvii + 225 pp.
Supercedes his 1913 publication on trachoma in Egypt. Much information throughout on Egypt, including social conditions.
MACKENZIE, Clutha Nantes (1952) "Türkiye'de Körler" konusu ile ilgili rapar. Ankara. 73 pp.
[Report on blind people in Turkey (for UNESCO?)]
MAGILL, Arthur N. (1955) Demonstration Centre for Rehabilitation and Training of the Blind. New York: UNTAA ST/TAA/K/ Egypt/1. 45 pp.
Report by Director, on set–up and first year's operation of Demonstration Centre at Zeitoun, near Cairo; including Home Teaching, personnel training and Braille printing programmes.
MAITLAND–KIRWAN J.D. (1930) Sunrise in Syria. A short history of the British Syrian Mission from 1860 to 1930. London: Brit. Syrian Mission.
Brief mention of work with blind people, pp. 24, 51, 79–81, 85, 91. See also notes under TRISTRAM H.B., and under SCOTT F.E. (below)
MALTI–DOUGLAS F. (1988) Blindness and Autobiography. Al–Ayyam of Taha Husayn. Princeton UP. xi + 202 pp.
While examining Husayn's autobiography, Malti–Douglas reviews various aspects of blindness in the Arab world.
MARIE A. (1907) Note sur les asiles d'aliénés en Asie Mineure. Bull. Société Française de l'Histoire de la Médicine VI: 196–98.
Brief notes about treatment in Syria/Lebanon.
MASTERMAN E.W.G. (1918) Hygiene and disease in Palestine in modern and in Biblical times. Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly, 1918, 56–71.
Includes notes on disabilities (pp. 66–71) e.g. leprosy, rickets, infantile paralysis, epilepsy, congenital deformities, visual impairments and idiocy, with some ethnographic comments.
MATTHEWS, Roderic D., & AKRAWI, Matta [1949] Education in Arab countries of the Near East: Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon. Washington D.C.: Amer. Council on Educ. xxiv + 584 pp.
Detailed, painstaking report based on extensive travels and visits to 471 schools and institutions concerned with education in 1945–46. Minimal provisions were found for disabled children (pp. 255, 499, plate opposite 72); but clearly some are casually integrated (p. 41).
MATOSSIAN, Robert M., GARABEDIAN, Garabed A., BALASSANIAN N., et al. (1964) La poliomyélite paralytique au Liban en 1962. Revue Médicale du Moyen Orient 21: 25–31.
MEATH M.J. (Countess of Meath) (1903) Industries for the blind in Egypt, Nineteenth Century and After 53: 1050–52.
Brief notes on marketable handicraft activities established for blind youths at Alexandria c. 1900.
MELIKIAN L.H. (1964) Clinical psychology in the Arab Middle East. In: L.E. Abt & B.F. Reiss (Ed.s) Progress in Clinical Psychology VI, 242–49. New York: Grune & Stratton.
MITRI, 'Amin (1948) Arabic: [The feeble–minded.] Alexandria: Dar Nashr 'Al Thaqafah.
MOON, William (1877) Light for the Blind: a history of the origin and success of Moon's system of reading (embossed in various languages) for the blind. Third edition. London: Longmans.
Describes blind people using Moon literature (mainly portions of the Bible) during the 1860s and 1870s in Egypt (pp.46–48); Beirut, Syria (pp.48–53, 194–208); and Turkey (pp. 53–54).
MUHAMMAD HASAN KHAN [Hakim ud Dowleh] (1908) Grossesse, accouchement et puériculture en Perse. [Thesis].
MUSIL, Alois (1928) The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins. New York: Amer. Geographical Socy, Oriental Explorations and Studies No. 6.
Illness and treatment, pp. 666–70. Bonesetting and plaster; fettering of ‘demoniac’ (i.e. imbecile, demented or insane).
NAJARIAN, Pergrouhi S. (1958) Patterns of family living in the Arab Middle East. Actes du XVII Congrès International de Sociologie II, 425–49.
NAJARIAN P.S. (1959) Adjustment in the family and patterns of family living. J. Social Issues 15: 28–45.
NAJJAR, Farid Jubra'il (1960) Kamus al–tarbiyah wa–'ilm al–nafs al–tarbawi [Dictionary of education and educational psychology.] Beirut: Jamiat Bairut al–Amirikiyah. 286 pp.
NAJJAR, Samir S. (1964) Hypothyroidism in children from an endemic goiter area. J. Pediatrics 64: 372–80.
Retrospective study of 47 children with hypothyroidism, comparing some factors with those present in sporadic cretinism.
NAJJAR S.S. & WOODRUFF, Calvin W. (1963) Some observations on goiter in Lebanon. Amer. J. Clinical Nutrition 13: 46–54.
Comparison of 505 Beirut children with goitre, from orphanage and from middle–class situations.
NATHAN S. (1947) La Trachome en Iraq. Thesis, Univ. Lausanne.
OHRY A. (1989) Hebrew: [Medical and rehabilitation aspects of the treatment of disabled people during the British Mandate in Palestine and the War of Independence 1920–1949.] Harefuah 116: 549–51.
OMIDSALAR, Mahmoud (1992) Childbirth in modern Persian folklore. Encyclopaedia Iranica V: 404–407.
Various beliefs relating e.g. children's character and future to food taken during pregnancy, ill effects from djinns etc.
ÖZTÜRK O.M. (1964) Folk treatment of mental illness in Turkey. In: Ari Kiev (Ed.) Magic, Faith and Healing, 343–63. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.
PAYSIN S. (1956) Some epidemiological aspects of poliomyelitis in Turkey. Bull. WHO 15: 339–54.
PEITZ, Marietta (1988) Wurzeln und Zweige: 80 Jahre Christoffel–Blindenmission. [Bensheim]
See note under SCHMIDT–KÖNIG (below).
PHILLOTT D.C. (1907) A note on Sign–, Gesture–, Code–, and Secret–language, etc., amongst the Persians. J. Asiatic Socy Bengal III (9) 619–22.
Describes briefly some common gestures or signals indicating e.g. silence, come here, yes, no, astonishment and disbelief, stop, go out; mentions also some women's codes.
PHILLOTT D.C. (1914) Colloquial English–Persian Dictionary in the Roman Character, containing all English words in common use with their meanings in modern Persian with numerous examples. Calcutta.
See common disability words, e.g. blind, blockhead, cripple, deaf (including hard of hearing), dumb (gung, lal), lame (lang), simpleton; also gesture, sign (including beck, signal; and secret mark).
PHILLOTT D.C. & AZOO R.F. (1906) Some Arab folk tales from Hadramaut. J. Asiatic Socy Bengal (n.s.) II (9) 399–439.
pp. 406–407, an Indian with dislocated hip goes to Arabia for a painful but effective Bedouin manoeuvre: his legs are secured around a bull which has first been fed salty food but starved of water three days. It is then allowed to take water, hugely expanding its sides.
POLAK J.E. (1863) Lepra in Persien. Virchows Archiv 27: 175–80.
PROTHRO, Edwin Terry (1961) Child Rearing in the Lebanon. Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs VIII, Harvard UP. viii + 186 pp.
Carefully prepared study interviewing 468 urban and rural mothers and applying various tests to 397 of their children.
PROTHRO E.T. & MELIKIAN, Levon H. (1955) Psychology in the Arab Near East. Psychological Bull. 52: 303–10.
Review of psychology in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, with short bibliography of relevant Arabic works (1945–53).
RACY, John C. (1970) Psychiatry in the Arab East. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Supplement No. 211.
REIMANN H.A. & SABRA, Fuad A. (1962) Hereditary spastic paraplegia (primary lateral sclerosis): a report of three cases in a family. Middle East MJ 1: 75–78.
RICHTER R. & TAT L. (1958) Leprosy problems in Turkey. Intl J. Leprosy 26: 134–43.
RILEY J. (1874) Syrian Home Life. New York: Dodd, Mead.
ROE W.R. (1917) Peeps into the Deaf World. Derby: Bemrose.
pp. 237–39, notes on the ‘Deaf and Dumb’ in Turkey, with photograph of two deaf attendants at the Sublime Porte, apparently signing to one another.
RUSSELL, Alex. (1756) The Natural History of Aleppo, and parts adjacent. London. viii + 266 pp. + Index (10 pp.)
Detailed account (pp. 190–223) of climate, diseases and treatments from 1742–47 and 1752–53; see also pp. 97–100 (local physicians), pp. 136–44 (diseases). Ophthalmia was common. Leprosy was rare.
SALAM, Maria Z., AYOUB H., & ZARIER A. (1964) Report on the International Congress on the Scientific Study of Mental Retardation. Leb. MJ 18: 209–222.
Largely biomedical report. Practically nothing on Middle Eastern situation.
SALEEBY S. (1992) The beginnings of ophthalmology in Lebanon. Bull. société libanaise d'histoire de la médicine (1992) (2) 1–8.
SANDLER, Aron (1905, 1909) Medizinsche bibliographie für Syrien, Palästina und Cypern. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina–Vereins 28: 131–46, and 32: 225–46.
Mostly medical (German, English, French, Hebrew). Includes some ethnographic material and many articles on leprosy.
SANDWITH F.M. (1889) The Cairo Lunatic Asylum, 1888. J. Mental Sci. 34: 473–90.
Brief mention of ‘idiots’ at the asylum and in the community.
SAUDI ARABIA. Min. Educ., Department of Special Educ. (1967) Report on the Education and Rehabilitation of the Handicapped. Riyadh. 11 pp.
SAUDI ARABIA. Min. Educ. (1970) Report on Special Education for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Handicapped. Riyadh. 52 pp. ERIC Ed 052576. (English & Arabic).
SCHMIDT–KÖNIG, Fritz (1969) Ernst J. Christoffel: Vater der Blinden im Orient. Giessen & Basel: Brunnen–Verlag. 72 pp.
In 1908 Pastor Christoffel founded Christoffel Blindenmission, which has become a major worldwide force for education and training of blind people. He opened an institution for blind people in 1909 at Malatya, Turkish Kurdistan, and other centres at Tabriz (1925) and Isfahan.
SHABY J. (1958) Multiple sclerosis in Iraq. Wiener Zeitschrift für Nervenheilkunde 15: 276–#.
SHAHLA, Jurj (1965) Al–Mujas fi ta'rikh al–tarbiyah [Short history of Education.] Beirut: Maktabat ra's Bairut. 357 pp.
AL–SHARABASI, Ahmad (1956) Fi `alam al–makfufin [Plight of the Blind.] Cairo. 399 pp.
SOYLU H. (1971) Histoires des centres psychiatriques en Turquie et leur situation actuelle. Hygiène Mentale 60: 87–92.
STEPHAN S.H. (1925) Lunacy in Palestinian folklore. Palestine Oriental Socy J. 5: 1–16.
SUBAY'I, 'Adnan (1952) Arabic: [A survey of child psychology.] Damascus: 'Arafah Library.
The Sultan and the Hamidié Hospital for Children at Constantinople. Brit. MJ i (April 16) 1904, pp.
900–901.
On the Children's Hospital founded and maintained by the reclusive Sultan Abdul Hamid II: "a visitor to the wards might almost imagine himself to be in a German hospital."
[SYRIA] (1955) La protection de l'enfance délinquante en Syrie. Législation. Institutions. Damas, imprimerie El–Jadida. 19 pp.
Third United Nations Social Welfare Seminar for Arab States in the Middle–East, Damascus, 8–20 December 1952, 1953.
THESIGER, Wilfred (1964) The Marsh Arabs. London: Longmans.
In the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, Thesiger noticed that "The tribesmen were especially kind to the afflicted, and among them a major physical disability was perhaps less of a handicap than in some parts of the world. Also in Dibin was a boy who, though born blind, moved freely about in the village and even went out a short way by himself in a canoe to collect hashish. During the years I was in the Marshes I met several deaf–and–dumb boys and men, who were happy and friendly, and who fitted usefully into the life of the community." (p. 168) Thesiger gave details of people who had switched gender identity, which was also tolerated without much bother (pp. 169–70).
TICHO A. (1926) Ursachen der Erblindung in Palestina. Klinische Monatsblätter für Augenheilkunde 77: 700–704.
Detailed data from a private ophthalmic hospital, with some international comparisons.
TRABAUD M.K. & CHATY MOUHARRAM (1932) Le lathyrisme en Syrie. Bull. Académie National Médi. Paris 107: 260.
Trachoma Studies in Iran. (1960) Institute of Parasitology and Malariology, Teheran.
TRISTRAM H.B. (1872) The Daughters of Syria. London: Seeley, Jackson & Halliday.
Reports and comments on schools for disabled children and adults, pp. 268–75. Mr. Mott prepared reading materials in Moon type during 1867, and opened a school for blind people at Beirut in 1868. After advocacy by the blind people, a further class began for physically disabled beggars, some of whom were wheeled to school by a deaf man using a low cart. A blind Druse named Ghandoor was employed in printing religious materials in embossed Moon script, which was used also at a similar school at Damascus.
UCER M. (1998) Turkish: [The insane in Turkish oral tradition.] Yeni Tip Tarihi Arastirmalari 4: 157–64.
UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC, Min. Educ. (1960) Education of Mentally Deficient Children. Cairo. 24 pp.
UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC, Min. Educ. (1969) Ministerial Decree No. 156 of 24 Sept. 1969 Relative to Statutes of Special Schools and Classes. Cairo. 46 pp.
URQUHART A.R. & TUKE W.S. (1879) Two visits to the Cairo Asylum. J. Mental Sci. 25: 43–53.
At the time, the sole institution in the region where formal care was given to ‘idiots,’ among the ‘insane.’ See also: SANDWITH; WARNOCK.
VAN ROOYEN C.E. & MORGAN A.D. (1943) Poliomyelitis; experimental work in Egypt. Edinburgh MJ 50: 705–20.
VAUME, Dr. (1886) La lèpre dans le Kurdistan persan. Bull. de la société d'anthropologie de Lyon 5: 158–62.
WAKIM A. (1956) Child care in Mieh–Mieh. M.A. diss., Amer. Univ. Beirut.
WALDMEIER T. (edn, 1925) The Autobiography of Theophilus Waldmeier, comprising ten years in Abyssinia and forty–six years in Syria. (Ed. S. Hobhouse). London: The Friends Bookshop. xv + 317 pp.
In 1898, Waldmeier founded the first hospital near Beirut "for the mentally afflicted sufferers of Syria and Palestine" (pp. 263–315). Traditional treatment of people with mental illnesses is described (pp. 271–80).
WALKER, Charles (1914) Work for the blind in Syria. In: Report of the International Conference on the Blind ... June 18th to 24th (inclusive) 1914, pp. 337–40.
Account of the work of the Industrial School for Blind Men and Boys at Beirut, founded in 1868 earlier by Mr. Mentor Mott of the British Syrian Mission.
WALKER, John (1931) Folk–medicine in modern Egypt. The Moslem World XXI: 6–13.
Includes some notes on supposed remedies for a variety of eye diseases, leprosy, convulsions, evil eye.
WALKER J. (1934) Folk Medicine in Modern Egypt. Being the relevant parts of the Tibb al–Rukka or Old Wives' Medicine of `Abd al–Rahman Isma`il. London: Luzac. 128 pp.
Some attempted treatments of various disabling illnesses.
WARNOCK, John (1924) Twenty–eight years' lunacy experience in Egypt (1895–1923). J. Mental Sci. 70: 233–61; 380–410; 579–612.
Some remarks about official and community attitudes, pp. 395–96, 585, 598–99. Some Syrian patients were present (pp. 397–98).
WILHELM, Bertha (1966) Amir; der Weg eines blinden Knaben in Persien. Bad Sachsa/Süharz: Christoffel Blindenmission.
WORTABET, John (1873) Memoir on leprosy in Syria. Brit. & Foreign Medico–Chirurgical Review 53: 173–98.
Detailed differential description and observations of leprosy, with six case histories treated in the 1860s at Beirut or Aleppo. Description of two "leper–houses of Damascus," and analysis of details of 49 inmates. Remarks on the social situation of lepers.
WORTHINGTON E.B. (1946) Middle East Science. A survey of subjects other than agriculture. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. xiii + 239 pp. + maps.
pp. 140–95 reviews ‘Human Diseases,’ ‘Nutrition,’ ‘Health &
Medical Services,’ ‘Population & Social Studies,’ across the Middle East, with more attention to Egypt, northern Sudan, Palestine, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, based on extensive tours, official data, and circulation of drafts.
YATES, William H. & KERNS, Thomas (1842–43) Medical news from the East. Lancet i. 867–70
Initial published report of activities of Dr. Kerns at Beirut, supported by the Syrian Medical Aid Assoc. (See KASS, above).
YATES W.H. & KERNS T. (1843–44) Clinical report of the British dispensary in Syria. Lancet i. 755–59.
First 12 month report of 4,298 patients treated. Eye patients (1,083, 25%) were most prominent. Kerns also treated 429 cases of rheumatism, 47 of deafness, 18 of paralysis, 5 of hare–lip and 4 of club foot.
ZAMBACO PACHA (1891) Voyages chez les lépreux. L'Égypte, la Palestine, les Iles de Mételin, de Chio, Samos, Chypre, Candie, etc. Paris: Masson. 407 pp.
Lengthy, detailed reports from these places.
ZELLWEGER, Hans U. (1953) Clinical aspects of poliomyelitis. Leb. MJ 6: 153–68.
ZELLWEGER H.U. & GHANDOUR M. (1953) Modern trends in poliomyelitis with special consideration of the outbreak in Lebanon in 1952. Leb. MJ 6: 1–15.
Brief note on history of polio back to 1933.
ZWEMER, Samuel M .(1915) Childhood in the Moslem World. New York: Revell. 273 pp.
Informative but not unbiased mixture of observation, anecdote, official data and quotation from other expatriates' writings. Concern for children's welfare probably results in an unbalanced picture.
Version 3.10, 24 July 2002
Copyright © 2002 M. Miles / CIRRIE
All materials may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes to advance educational or scientific research.
(Hosted by the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange)
