This article reads two late nineteenth century short stories--one by Guy de Maupassant and the other by Louisa May Alcott--through the interpretive framework of Critical Disability Studies. It contrasts the traditional view of disability as a deficit or pathology that befalls certain unfortunate individuals with a newer one that understands it…

In the first half of nineteenth-century Europe, the founding fathers of the philanthropic network developed a specific network for the care of children at risk. This network eventually resulted in institutionalized solutions for the care of these children. In this article, three topics are looked at: the meaning of the general concept of networks…