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Medieval mobility aids

We think of assistive technology as something modern, and that people with mobility issues in the past were limited to their locality or confined within their homes. But there are clues in the manuscripts associated with medieval pilgrimage to suggest that disabled people could be highly mobile.

Words by Jude Seal

  • In pictures

About the author

Black and white headshot of Jude Seal wearing headphones.

Jude Seal

(they/them)

Jude Seal is a PhD student at Royal Holloway, University of London, researching the cultural perceptions of blindness, deafness and mutism in English miracle literature between 1070 and 1450. Their research explores the intersection of the histories of medicine and magic, and the archaeology of disease. They also write on living with a brain injury and chronic pain, and in their spare time are involved in disability sport.