Early in the war, when faced with an acute shortage of accommodation for evacuees, a government official questioned whether disabled children were 'worth saving'. This book examines how the evacuation in England was planned, executed and evaluated for children with various disabilities (including the 'excluded') and explores how this wartime experience influenced public and professional attitudes towards the children long after the war had ended.
Through the use of official documents, newspapers and personal testimony, the book illustrates both positive and negative experiences of the...

This book contains the first detailed study on the experiences of disabled children in England during the Second World War. It examines the lives of those who were evacuated into residential special schools within the reception areas and compares their experiences with others who, for various reasons, were not evacuated, who returned home early, or who spent time in hospital. Through the use of official documents, newspapers and personal testimony the book shows that for many disabled children the evacuation was a positive experience but one which depended largely on the attitudes of the...