What is meant by “renten-hysterie” (Gerger, p 10), how did it affect disability policy after the Civil War and how do you see this still in operation in current policies and practices?

Answer all question

Questions

1. What are some of the factors contributing to the frequent neglect visited upon disabled veterans after the war ends? For example, the VA hospitals that continue to have long wait lines and falsified records http://www.cbsnews.com/news/phoenix-va-improves-but-issues-remain/

2. How was vocational rehabilitation a response to a concern over dependency on governmental pensions?

3. How has society’s perception of a particular war affected the benefits and supports provided following the war, i.e. World War ll GI education bill vs. the reduced benefits available to today’s vets?

4. Gerber (2001, p1, paragraph 1) uses the term “valorize veterans’ sacrifices…” How is the use of this term similar and/or different to the way it is used by Wolfensberger and Osburn in the earlier readings?

5. What is meant by “renten-hysterie” (Gerger, p 10), how did it affect disability policy after the Civil War and how do you see this still in operation in current policies and practices?

6. Following World War l, Germany mandated that all companies with more than 25 employees must employ a certain number of disabled veterans. This mandate continues to this day. The US capitalist approach has been to provide the carrot of tax credits. How have these different approaches affected people with disabilities in both countries?

7. How did social prejudice, intelligence tests, and perceptions of ‘intellectual inferiority’ affect vocational training opportunities offered after the war (see Gelber, 2005, p168)? How is this similar or different from the earlier chapters describing prejudice that led to forced sterilization and institutionalization?

8. The Vietnam War introduced society to the concept of PTSD. In World War l this was labeled shell shock. Iraq and Afghanistan brought us traumatic head injuries. How has the use of language and the increased intensity of warfare changed our perception and responses to war injuries?

9. Norden (2012) brings us the history of the film portrayal of wounded soldiers and war in general from World War ll to Vietnam. Describe the ways you agree and disagree with Norden’s analysis of Hollywood’s portrayal of disabled soldiers.