This new edition of Psychosocial Aspects of Disability strikes a balance of past, present, and future views of individual, family, societal, and governmental interaction and reaction to persons with disabilities. The past is presented in Part 1, Psychosocial Aspects of Disabilities, in which a view of the evolution of societal reactions to disabilities and persons with disability is presented. This perspective is important because it explains how some of the beliefs and attitudes toward disabilities and those who have a disability have developed. Additionally, Part 1 makes us aware from a hist