Re-educating wounded. Blind French soldiers learning to make baskets. The disabled veteran was not seen in popular culture as a partial or limited person as most other people with disabilities were. He had been whole and virile before his injury, and was cut down in the prime of his youth. Because his loss was sustained fighting for his country the disabled veteran had a special claim to our pity and benevolence. The American Red Cross pioneered the development of psychiatric nursing programs at veterans hospitals, made artificial limbs and helped rehabilitate amputees and blinded veterans. Photo taken by American Red Cross, circa 1917-19.