Middle East Disability Bibliography released
A new bibliography on Disability in the Middle East, hosted by the Centre for International Rehabilitation Research Information & Exchange, has been released at: http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/bibliography/MEasttoc.html
Listing over one thousand entries, with some annotation, the bibliography consists of materials with "technical, cultural and historical relevance to child and adult disabilities, special needs, social and educational responses and rehabilitation". It is accessible in both html and pdf files, and is presented in six sections: (1) General Introduction and Abbreviations. (2) Items in Middle Eastern languages (Romanised), 1970 to 2002. (3) Items in English & European languages, 1970 to 2002. (4) Historical Items: Introduction. (5) Historical items, 1750 to 1970. (6) Historical items, Antiquity to 1750.
The stated aim is "to record cumulatively the relevant formal knowledge base in the disability field in countries of the Middle East, especially Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and some smaller neighbours." The compiler and annotator, M. Miles of Birmingham, UK, notes that some limits have been placed on coverage of biomedical materials that are already easily accessible with abstracts by searching at the National Library of Medicine gateway: http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd
More annotation is given with the bibliography's older materials so that users can "find the disability-related contents that are sometimes hidden in odd corners", back as far as the proverbs of Ancient Sumer, the sacred and secular texts of Judaism, Islam and Zoroastrianism, or for example in scholarly papers on medieval Arab medicine, Turkish law or Persian education. The oldest section comprises about 200 items, slightly more than the number in the section from 1750 to 1970.
Users are encouraged to download sections of the bibliography for personal and educational uses and to facilitate searching for keywords with their own word-processing software.
Miles suggests, "We know that disability crosses all frontiers, and we should recognise that much can be learnt from both present and historical responses to disability worldwide. Compiling this work has refreshed my appreciation of earlier Middle Eastern civilisations. I think a lot of people will also be surprised at how much disability research, activism and development is happening in this region today. In a period of some uneasiness between Western countries and the Middle East, I hope this bibliography will be seen as a small act of inter-cultural goodwill."
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