oa Alle wegen leiden naar… een instelling?

All roads lead to... an institution? Institutionalisation trajectories of deaf people in East Flanders, 1750-1950

Comparing the life courses of deaf people with those of their siblings, we examine in this article the institutionalisation trajectories of deaf people in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century East Flanders. Despite an increase in institutionalisation in the nineteenth century, our analysis shows that institutionalisation was not an obvious life course event. Individual characteristics such as place of residence, marital status, and the presence of close family members were important factors for one’s opportunities for institutionalisation, especially at a young age. Whereas living in the city and being unmarried favored institutionalisation, deaf people with siblings and from a middle class environment were less likely to be institutionalised. Nevertheless, poverty did not necessarily drive deaf people into an institution. Our results suggest, above all, a strong interaction between formal (institution) and informal care (family). The fact that many deaf people were urban singles, mainly because of the presence of deaf schools in the cities, probably contributed to their higher rate of institutionalisation in later life.