During the last decades, historical research on disability has been primarily conducted in Western Europe and North America. Consequently, disability history still focuses on Western attitudes towards disability. Perspectives on disabilities outside the West have recently broadened our understanding but remain scarce. Using the examples of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and the GDR, this paper seeks to provide an overview of disability policies under communism. It addresses the question whether the communist ideology provides a common denominator for studying disability in Eastern Europe. Communist states in Eastern Europe were never a homogenous entity. Additionally, certain trajectories in disability policies reflect global trends that go beyond socialism. Nevertheless, there was a specific theme that lay at the core of the communist world view, namely the glorification of physical labour and working class heroes. Labour played a crucial role for disability policies since communist regimes strove for moulding productive workers and “useful” citizens. At the same time these policies resulted in a discrepancy between official proclamations and social reality of disabled persons. This paper argues that the function and appearance of disabled persons’ bodies, challenged the very core of the communist work ethic.