Thank you for joining us!

My questions revolve around physical therapy/physiotherapy after the war. Can you dive a little into the developing discipline of physical therapy for wounded veterans? What was the rehab regime like? Who jumped into those physical therapist roles (physicians, athletes, nurses, etc)? If it isn't too far afield of your interest, how did the field grow from more of veterans-based approach to civilian life?

Thanks again for joining us!

Thank you so much for this AMA- how was disability as a result of war perceived compared to people who were disabled from birth or other means? I'm especially curious if there's any relationship to gender here.

What was life like for someone with Down syndrome or other disabilities that really affect day to day life back in the day? And how did it change over time. We’re they given special treatment either good or bad?

Thank you for the AMA. My question is: How were disabled WWI veterans treated in the Hitler era ? With the regime’s known support towards Eugenics and the euthanasia applied to the disabled among their population, did those that became disfigured by the Great War suffer similar prejudice by the Reich authorities ?

Hi Dr. Marjorie! Thanks for doing this AMA.

I was wondering if - in your opinion - having (facial) disfigurations, missing a limb or several etc. became much less of a taboo or stigma in the various societies, following WW1 and the explosion of cases this must have brought with it?

Thank you

Can you comment on the intersection of physical and mental war injury? Especially with wounds causing facial disfigurement, I imagine there is a heavy mental toll on top of ptsd from just being in the trenches. Were there any services available to provide any psychological aid to facially disfigured veterans? Did they have support groups or anything comparable? What was the social impact of facial disfigurement in the postwar period? (wide ranging questions I know, feel free to hone in on one)

Hello Dr Gehrhardt!

In all forms of modern media, there remains a general aversion towards the depiction of disfigurement, battlefield or non-battlefield related. Did artistic and literary representations of disfigured soldiers during the inter-war period similarly shy away from such depictions, or was there greater acceptance of the representation of disfigurement in media?

Thank you for this, Dr. Gehrhardt,

My question concerns race. How were non-white disabled and disfigured soldiers treated in comparison to their white counterparts? How did this differ between France, Britain, and Germany?

Hello Dr. Gehrhardt, thanks for doing this AMA!

My question is: Why are images of disabled WW1 veterans so much more present today than images of disabled WW2 veterans? This is of course subjective, but coming from Germany and a historical background, it seems to me that images of one-legged, blind, disfigured or otherwise disabled WW1 veterans are much more present in the "collective consciousness" than those of disabled WW2 veterans. I know for a fact that we watched movies with very explicit pictures of gruesome WW1 injuries in history class, but never touched on the experiences of returning disabled soldiers after WW2. I don't know the numbers, but the number of wounded and disabled must have been much more higher in WW2, no? Is this, in fact, a thing? If yes, what is the history of this phenomenon? When did it start? What caused it? And is it limited to Germany?

Thank you!

Any insight on professional caregiving? I've read a little bit about the rise of the modern hospital in light of WWI/WWII. Is it safe to say this is also where we see the professionalization of caregiving taking over from what was previously a domestic task?

Concerning Autism/Aspergers.....were there any indicators in the past that we can now take as “It has always been around”? Do you suspect that autistic/aspergers were just considered the ‘weird’ people?

Thank you for doing this AMA Dr Gerhardt!

Did the First World War see any major advancements in the development or usage of prosthetics? Was facial reconstruction, either surgically or prosthetically, a realistic option?

What a cool AMA to make my Thursday! Thank you so much for offering your expertise and for the insights you’ve offered already. Here I am now to add more questions to your plate. (Sorry!)

1: On Victory/Defeat

Does the outcome of a war shape responses to war-induced disability and/or injury? That is, depending on whether who won/lost the war, does that influence the degree to which battle scars are seen—by society and by the harmed individuals—as badges of honor (or symbols of defeat)?

2: On Gender

I’d also love to learn your perspective on experiences of gender in the line of battle or in acts of war. For instance, how might facial disfigurement produce similar or different experiences for female soldiers/survivors as much their male counterparts? Would invisible disabilities or trauma be taken more (or less) seriously? Have support systems against gender dysmorphia benefited people who come out of war zones with major changes to their bodies, or vice versa?

Of course, I do not wish to obligate you to address all of these points or only these points. Any of your thoughts on historical intersections between disability/injury and gender would be dearly appreciated. Though my school research has gotten me interested in long-reaching effects of war on women (i.e. widowhood or displacement contributing to perceptions of witchcraft) or gender minorities, I’m still really new to thinking about bodily harm or trauma in that context.

Thanks again, Dr. Gehrhardt, and I hope you enjoyed your dinner!

Hi - medical student here. We typically first recognize a baby or kid has some type of genetic syndrome based on their “facies” or their face/cephelad features overall just looking “off”. Whether it’s wide set eyes, a high or low forehead, low ears, or regressive jaw for example. How were kids with atypical “facies” seen by the general society prior to modern medicine, particularly genetics. We’re they just considered “weird people” or was it understood to be a true disease process as we know now?

Hey, Doc, thanks for this interesting AMA! I was wondering if any of the treatments/therapies/procedures that are being carried out today that have some roots or basis in some of the things that were found out/developed from the Great War? The advancements in battlefield medicine are amazing and that knowledge is certainly hard-won...

Thanks for lending you time!

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How did Autistic people or any disability that makes a person sensitive to loud noises deal with being sent to the front trench or at least any portion of the field with loud gunfire or explosions

Someone posted this propaganda image from 1917. If I’m reading it correctly, it seems to suggest that a bionic mechanical arm could be preferable to normal human limbs. It reminds me of the Italian led futurist movement in the lead up to WWI. So my question is, is this propaganda or did we see instances and perhaps a broader sentiment that disabled combatants could not just be brought back to ‘normal’, but in fact made even better than they really were? A ‘million dollar man’ sort of thing.

Interesting. Just wondering - You must be aware of the WW1 hospital at Sidcup Kent which did lots of pioneering work in the reconstruction of faces.

were people who were disfigured from birth allowed in the military? Like during WW1

Hello Dr.

I remember reading a long-form article about a decade or so about one particular town or county in the southern United States (I want to say Louisiana but can't be certain) where an astonishing number of residents were disabled. There were generations of family members who would be missing digits and limbs due to some fairly suspect "accidents."

I have never been able to find any other information on this place and don't remember where the article was from but it seemed to be well researched. My question is, have you ever heard of this place?

Was there a demand for facial prosthetics for wounded soldiers prior to WW1?

What happened to combatants with disabilities, wounds, etc. who served countries that no longer existed by the end of WWI, or whose boundaries shifted? E.g., did Yugoslavia take care of Austro-Hungarian and Serbian wounded equally? Or did Turkey help those who served the Ottoman Empire but ended up outside its former borders?

Fascinating topic, and relevant to my interests.

Did the circumstances or mechanism of injury change the way veterans were either perceived or treated? For instance, if a man was badly injured during training vs. In combat? Wounds inflicted from enemy action vs. a truck driver injured in a vehicle accident? Injured in a trench raid vs shelling?

Long-term disabilities can induce depression. Was this recognized or treated other than by directly trying to rehabilitate the physical injuries?

Chronic pain - was it recognized and treated or were veterans supposed to suck it up and drive on?

I have osteoarthritis and degenerative disk damage from a military career far less intense than tours in the trenches. Did this sort of injury that can only be fully diagnosed with Xrays and so forth get recognized or treated? How about long-term consequences, or were they simply chalked up to aging?

How did the economic differences among the various nations impact support given to vets?

I could go on, from comparison to the modern US Veteran's Administration, but I think I've thrown enough at you for a Reddit AMA.