The chapter examines the conditions of agrarian working life and the work activities and opportunities available to individuals with mobility, visual, or other sensory and mental impairments in early modern Swedish villages. Dis/ability to work and the types of work are studied through a sample of cases described primarily in lower court records. There was plenty of room and tasks for the partially disabled in working life, where most tasks required physical abilities and manual skills. Dis/ability to work was recognised as a fluid state in early modern times. Ultimately, very few impairments of a severe degree, including major mobility impairments, blindness, and severe madness, resulted in permanent, long-term or repeated ‘total’ inability to work. Instead, most of the impaired participated in the domestic and other unpaid work within their households according to their abilities and skills. They worked and simultaneously relied on familial or other community support. Overall, their position in the labour market was precarious. If employed in paid work, their careers often comprised casual and temporary work and short-term jobs due to the limitations or fluctuations in their work abilities. Nevertheless, special skills provided opportunities for earning a livelihood.

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Work Activities of People with Physical and Mental Disabilities in Early Modern Rural Sweden

  • Riikka Miettinen

摘要

The chapter examines the conditions of agrarian working life and the work activities and opportunities available to individuals with mobility, visual, or other sensory and mental impairments in early modern Swedish villages. Dis/ability to work and the types of work are studied through a sample of cases described primarily in lower court records. There was plenty of room and tasks for the partially disabled in working life, where most tasks required physical abilities and manual skills. Dis/ability to work was recognised as a fluid state in early modern times. Ultimately, very few impairments of a severe degree, including major mobility impairments, blindness, and severe madness, resulted in permanent, long-term or repeated ‘total’ inability to work. Instead, most of the impaired participated in the domestic and other unpaid work within their households according to their abilities and skills. They worked and simultaneously relied on familial or other community support. Overall, their position in the labour market was precarious. If employed in paid work, their careers often comprised casual and temporary work and short-term jobs due to the limitations or fluctuations in their work abilities. Nevertheless, special skills provided opportunities for earning a livelihood.