Samantha Atwell

Supervisor: Dr Siân Pooley

Childhood experiences of physical disability in England, 1930-1970.

My thesis is the first study of childhood physical disability in twentieth-century Britain. Drawing on deep insights gained from the oral history testimonies of individuals who grew up with a physical disability and the qualitative analysis of multifaceted archival records, this project places children’s experiences at the heart of its analysis. It asks how children’s lives and life courses were impacted by the policy-making and institutionalised care practices of mid-twentieth century Britain.

My research examines the lived impact of state policy-making and institutionalised care practices for people growing up with physical disabilities in mid-twentieth-century England. During this period, specialist schooling and professional care was being developed for increasing numbers of children, identified as ‘handicapped’ or ‘defective’ by virtue of being beyond ‘normal provision’. Innovatively, my research seeks to tell this story of professionalization and institutionalisation from the perspectives of disabled children themselves. My project will examine the lived experiences of children growing up in specialist institutions. I then combine this archival evidence with an oral history project which will explore people's experiences of transitioning into specialist institutions and residential schooling. Weaving together archival evidence and oral history testimonies, people’s reflections on how they thought of their identity – as disabled or otherwise – and how this changed across their life course will further reveal the impact of specialist provision.  

My project is funded by the Calleva Foundation and forms part of the collaborative and interdisciplinary research project: 'Changing Lives: childhood experience, cumulative risk, and supportive environments across the life course'. 

Before starting my DPhil at Magdalen, I completed a fully funded MSt in British and European History at Jesus College, Oxford. I was awarded a distinction for my MSt Thesis titled 'Boys’ Writing and Conceptions of Masculinity in 1950s London’.

Writing: 

A short piece for the History @ Oxford blog about studying with disabilities: https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/article/sam-atwell

A short piece about a small section of my research, written as part of my role as a Graduate Outreach Tutor: https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/children-challenging-educational-inequality...