The disabled century / 1945-1969.

The Royal Victoria Cottage Hospital, East Grinstead, Sussex, became famous for the work of Sir Archibald McIndoe in reconstructing the faces of RAF casualties who had suffered severe burns. The patients supported each other through long periods of treatment and many stages of surgery. They were encouraged to rehabilitate themselves by going into the town and the people of East Grinstead got used to seeing men whose disfigurement was, initially, a frightening sight. These men had the credentials of their war service to help reinstate them in society but for those born handicapped it was harder to find acceptance. The NHS relieved the expense of disability through a system of state-run homes and hospitals but these were often devoid of comfort. Disabled people, whether or not they were war heroes, found themselves at a growing disadvantage as the 1950s got under way. They could not move at the pace of a society eager to grasp all the opportunities denied it during the war years.