As well, witness the controversy between Samuel Heinecke and Charles Michael, the Abbe de l'Epee, over the best method of communication for deaf persons. While the Abbe won the battle, the arguments over oral methods versus sign language for teaching deaf children continue up to the present day. Similarly, the story of Braille is one of struggles between advocates of various systems of embossed letters. Even the development of special education can be seen as both a positive innovation and an administrative strategy to exclude those who were not wanted by teachers of regular classes. I do not mean to imply here that there have not been any positive changes for disabled people, only that all changes should not be seen as progress.
Progress is a concept which is relative to the values of a particular age and society.
For disabled and deviant people have become the objects of various professional, social and economic interests, which compete for the power to define the needs and the rights of people who are outside of the norm. Seeing differentness causes one to either examine oneself in the light of the difference or to reject the different person as being too disturbing. The marginal person raises questions having to do with mortality, contingency, and the foundations of social life. The professional expert is someone who calms anxiety by projecting an image of competence, and in the case of our present society, by projecting an image of scientific grounding. The major tools of the professional expert are the examination and the prescription.