ABSTRACT
This chapter is structured around two different components: a historical overview of disability in Italy from Roman times up to the 19th century, and the evolution of the considerable number of changes over the past 100 or more years that have led up to the disability framework in use today. That framework increasingly views disability as a common and legitimate experience of human functioning but, as the historical overview shows, this was not always the case. Scientific, psychosocial, advocacy, protection and right-promotion approaches have all contributed to these progressive changes.
