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craft a unique set of practices to cope with the traumas of trench life. They practiced vernacular medicine. What vernacular medicine lends to the patient voice is not only power outside of the biomedical system, but also a new way to conceive of the patient and what constitutes a healthcare system. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many individuals isolated and at the mercy of a plethora of conflicting information, vernacular medicine abounds. Informal medical networks (often found on social-media platforms
the long history of disabled innovation (without which we would lack most of the communication technology we currently rely on so heavily) might also help. Indeed, there is a lot we could learn from disabled people should we chose to listen. However, highlighting the triumphs and innovations of disabled people should not be necessary. Disabled life does not have to be useful to ‘count’. As Ryan explains: In recent days, I have seen disabled people take to social media to list their achievements, as
befall them during lockdown. Those who are infected with COVID-19, believe themselves to be infected, or are caring for loved ones who are infected, have taken to social media and the national press to document their experiences of illness in self-isolation. Rarely has the role of self-diagnosis and self-treatment so preoccupied our national discourse. It remains to be seen whether this vast digital collection of ‘illness diaries’ prompts historians to re-evaluate how they write histories of health and healthcare. But for now, the spotlight
in telecommunication technology revolutionised the ways in which 72 72 Rethinking modern prostheses the Deaf communicated; the rise of text messaging and social media in particular empowered Deaf technology users and allowed them to use a form of technology that had previously relied on audibility.7 The cultural distinction between hearing loss and Deafness has recently been further challenged by the ambiguities around cochlear implants and the contested identity of their users. In this chapter I show how, in the inter-war years, amplified telephone technology