What constitutes “normal” changes from one era to the next.
What constitutes a disability has depended on who was judging and who was being judged. A lot depends on things such as where you are, what you are doing, and whether you feel safe or excluded.
For example, a beggar, a war veteran, a baby, and a musician may all have shared the experiences of being blind, but stigma, discrimination, and access to resources would be different for each.
Image Gallery
Click on an image to see a larger version. Use either the navigation buttons that appear or your keyboard’s Left and Right arrow keys to view other images in the gallery. (Notes for users with assistive technologies.)
"Why Be Normal?" white and blue bumper sticker, 2005
Head and shoulders portrait of young boy in a suit sitting in a wooden chair, holding a wooden crutch; daguerreotype in gilded frame with velvet-lined case, 1850s
When being musical is valued, those who aren’t, are at a disadvantage. Singer and musician Ray Charles used a Braille label maker to mark the programming switches on his Yamaha keyboard