The provision of disability services in Limerick 1930-1990

Abstract

This thesis explores the evolution of services for the disabled in Limerick from the 1930s to end of the twentieth century. It examines the development of services, the prominent role of religion and the church in this provision, how lay bodies started to establish organisations for the disabled in the 1960s, how organisations for the disabled relied on public charity, and how public attitudes to the disabled began to change from the 1950s onwards. It is based on research in newspapers, oral testimony and diocesan and national archives.