El origen del aerotransporte sanitario en España. Una historia olvidada de la Medicina de Urgencias / Earliest air ambulance flights in Spain: a forgotten part of the history of emergency medicine

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A plear for commonality: disability history, discourses of rehabilitation, and the individual / Un alegato a favor de lo compartido: historia de la discapacidad, discursos de rehabilitación, y el individuo

Since the late twentieth century, disability history has grown out of its infancy. Scholars from a variety of backgrounds have increasingly become convinced of the value of looking at the past through the lens of disability. Many studies have focused on the constructed nature of disability and thus deliberately tried to deconstruct contemporary distinctions between able-bodied and disabled individuals. By positively revaluing the particular position of the individual with disabilities on the basis of historical narratives, an attempt was made to counter ongoing tendencies of discrimination and oppression. In this article, we would like to remind the reader of another approach which sometimes runs the danger of being snowed under, namely a historical venture that seeks to uncover commonalities: places where the distinctions between persons with and without disabilities are temporarily forgotten and/ or erased, moments when the boundaries between the self and the other are being reconfigured. In order to do so, we will draw on an influential discourse from the history of disability itself: the discourse of rehabilitation. Going back to the early twentieth century, we will present the work of French scientist Jules Mardochée Amar and two Belgian disabled soldiers from the First World War. Amar’s ideas on rehabilitation would prove influential for the actual practices of rehabilitation during and after the war. The two Belgian disabled soldiers were retrained in a professional institute for rehabilitation established by the Belgian government in the north of France. By juxtaposing Amar’s discourse with the experiences of the two Belgian soldiers, we will demonstrate how, besides the discursive individual of rehabilitation, one also can find moments when that individual is absorbed by a real and tangible commonality. As a consequence, everybody —whether able-bodied citizen or mutilated soldier— becomes part of a community of equals (AU)

Desde finales del siglo XX la historia de la discapacidad ha madurado. Investigadores de muy diversa formación se han convencido cada vez más del valor de mirar al pasado a través de la lente de la discapacidad. Numerosos trabajos se han centrado en el análisis de la naturaleza construida de la discapacidad y, en consecuencia, han intentado de manera deliberada deconstruir las distinciones actuales entre las personas sin discapacidades y las personas discapacitadas. Reevaluando positivamente la particular posición del individuo con discapacidades sobre la base de narrativas históricas, este artículo intenta mostrar las tendencias presentes de discriminación y opresión. Con este trabajo nos gustaría además recordar al lector otro tipo de aproximación que, en ocasiones, corre el peligro de quedar oculta, concretamente la tarea histórica que intenta desvelar lo que se comparte: lugares donde las distinciones entre las personas con o sin discapacidades son temporalmente olvidadas y / o borradas; momentos en los que las fronteras entre el yo y el otro son reconfiguradas. Para llevar esto a cabo, vamos a utilizar un discurso de gran influencia dentro de la historia de la discapacidad: el discurso de la rehabilitación. Retrocediendo hasta el comienzo del siglo XX, presentaremos el trabajo del científico francés Jules Mardochée Amar y de dos soldados belgas con discapacidad de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Las ideas de Amar sobre la rehabilitación influyeron en las prácticas de rehabilitación desarrolladas durante y después de la guerra. Los dos soldados belgas discapacitados fueron rehabilitados en un instituto para la rehabilitación profesional establecido por el gobierno Belga en el norte de Francia. Al yuxtaponer el discurso de Amar con las experiencias de los dos soldados belgas, demostraremos cómo, junto al discurso individual de rehabilitación, pueden encontrarse también momentos en los que el individuo es absorbido por una 'commonality'-un conjunto de características comunes- real y tangible. Como consecuencia de esto, todo el mundo - ya sean ciudadanos físicamente capaces o soldados mutilados- pasa a formar parte de una comunidad de iguales (AU)

Federal policy and the rise in disability enrollment: evidence for the Veterans Affairs' Disability Compensation Program.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs compensates 13 percent of the nation's military veterans for service­related disabilities through the Disability Compensation (DC) program. In 2001, a legislative change made it easier for Vietnam veterans to receive benefits for diabetes associated with military service. In this paper, we investigate this policy's effect on DC enrollment and expenditures as well as the behavioral response of potential beneficiaries. Our findings demonstrate that the policy increased DC enrollment by 6 percentage points among Vietnam veterans and that an additional 1.7 percent experienced an increase in their DC benefits, which increased annual program expenditures by $2.85 billion in 2007. Using individual-level data from the Veterans Supplement to the Current Population Survey, we find that the induced increase in DC enrollment had little average impact on the labor supply or health status of Vietnam veterans but did reduce labor supply among their spouses.

Invalid corps.

OBJECTIVES: This article explores America's historical experience with medical disability compensation programs during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. METHODS: Contemporary newspaper reports, complemented by book and journal articles, provide an understanding of the medical disability compensation programs offered during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. RESULTS: Military planners, politicians, and service members struggled to develop a fair and balanced medical disability compensation program during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. CONCLUSIONS: Based on America's extensive experience with the Civil War Invalid Corps, an alternative for motivated military personnel could be developed.

Racial disparities in diabetes a century ago: evidence from the pension files of US Civil War veterans.

Using a comprehensive database constructed from the pension files of US Civil War veterans, we explore characteristics and occurrence of type 2 diabetes among older black and white males, living circa 1900. We find that rates of diagnosed diabetes were much lower among males in this period than a century later. In contrast to the late 20th Century, the rates of diagnosed diabetes were lower among black than among white males, suggesting that the reverse pattern is of relatively recent origin. Two-thirds of both white and black veterans had body-mass indexes (BMIs) in the currently recommended weight range, a far higher proportion than documented by recent surveys. Longevity among persons with diabetes was not reduced among Civil War veterans, and those with diabetes suffered comparatively few sequelae of the condition. Over 90% of black veterans engaged in low paying, high-physical effort jobs, as compared to about half of white veterans. High rates of work-related physical activity may provide a partial explanation of low rates of diagnosed diabetes among blacks. We found no evidence of discrimination in testing by race, as indicated by rates of examinations in which a urinalysis was performed. This dataset is valuable for providing a national benchmark against which to compare modern diabetes prevalence patterns.

Hearing loss in Union Army veterans from 1862 to 1920.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the prevalence of hearing loss (HL) in Union Army (UA) veterans by year, birth cohort, and occupation, and to compare Civil War pension and contemporary disability programs by examining monthly dollar awards. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective review of medical records for 17,722 UA veteran pension applicants, a subset of some 35,000 soldiers retrieved randomly from the Military Archives. METHODS: The diagnosis of HL was based on review of medical records, which used gross measurements because of the unavailability of audiometric testing. RESULTS: One third (5,891 or 33%) of pensioners sampled received compensation for HL. The veterans with HL suffered predominantly from left-sided HL (4,091 or 70%), which is consistent with noise-induced HL in a right-handed individual firing a rifle. Comparison of civilian occupations reveals minimal variation in prevalence of HL. Civil War pensions for unilateral HL averaged $134.04 per year, representing nearly one third of the average annual income in 1890. Bilateral HL received nearly twice that amount. Today, military veterans receive $1,248 annually for unilateral loss and $27,288 annually for bilateral loss. Social Security disability benefits are granted only for bilateral HL, with an average 60-year-old individual receiving $11,400 per year. CONCLUSION: HL was a common disability among UA Civil War veterans, with noise exposure a likely etiology for the HL. The differing levels of compensation for HL may reflect differing perceptions on the incapacitating effects of HL.