archaeologicals:

why is it that historical figures disabilities are usually not mentioned/common knowledge – unless the disability is seen as related to creativity, as in the case of the “blind bard milton” or the “deaf beethoven”?

rosa luxemburg limped, john milton was blind, alexander pope was a dwarfed hunchback. what does james thurber, jorge luis borges and james joyce have in common? all blind. harriet martineau was deaf, frida kahlo was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, virginia woolf suffered from lupus and the list goes on.

it just goes to show that there is an ableist notion at work here - anyone who creates a canonical work must be physically able, right? wrong.