Women with Disabilities in Ancient Greece

The combination of disability studies and ancient history is a fairly new area of research. The intersection of disability studies and the study of women in antiquity has been even less discussed. The few existing studies often conflate disabled women with women whom society considered aesthetically displeasing. This presentation separates women who could be considered disabled from individuals purported to be “unattractive”, and delves deeper into how they were treated.

Although the Greeks did not have a specific word that directly translates as “disabled”, certain texts depict individuals who found it physically and/or mentally difficult or impossible to participate in society, in ways that closely overlap with present-day definitions of disability. Through close readings (informed by my studies of the ancient Greek language) of narratives from multiple genres, I seek to illuminate the experiences of these women. One narrative concerns a Corinthian woman typically referred to as “Labda the Lame”, who is forced to move to another city-state to marry. Another example considers sterile women in Ancient Greece, whom I argue would have been considered disabled due to gender roles that insisted upon child-bearing.

Using such stories, I demonstrate the societal and psychological pressures that faced Greek women with disabilities, and I propose that the intersectionality between history, women,

and disabilities should be studied more extensively. Unfortunately, many of the same prejudicial ideas and systems of power remain relevant today: getting cast aside personally or professionally, the exploitation of women who are mentally-ill, and the still-prevalent push towards Reproductive Futurism.