History of
The short version…
Examples of Disability date back to the
earliest historical writings:
• We began by appeasing the gods
• Thus, by our initial efforts to understand
difference we ascribed it to the work of deities
We were literally prepared to
• “beat the devil out of you”
• Early laws protected the general public, not
the person with a disability
Two views on Etiology
• Illness or disability
comes from
supernatural entities
• Illness or disability
comes from natural
causes
However, treatment, such as it was,
was afforded only to the wealthythe majority were warehoused and
shut away
Queen Vishpla, circa 3500 B.C.
“The Rig-Veda, an ancient sacred poem of
India, is said to be the first written record of
the use of a prosthesis . Written in Sanskrit
between 3500 and 1800 B.C., it recounts
the story of a warrior, Queen Vishpla, who
lost her leg in battle, was fitted with an iron
prosthesis, and returned to battle.”
(http://www.disabilityhistory.org/timeline_new.html)
Not really Queen Vishpla- no cameras in 3500 B.C.
• Roman and Greek Cultures
700 B.C. and A.D. 400
-there wasn’t a name yet
acquired for individuals
with mental illnesses.
218 BC
Marcus Sergius, a Roman general who led his
legion against Carthage (presently Tunis) in
the Second Punic War, sustained 23 injuries
and a right arm amputation. An iron hand
was fashioned to hold his shield and he was
able to go back to battle. He was denied a
chance to be a priest because one needed
two normal hands.
-individuals were
considered to be “unusual”
and “strange”
Defining Disability
• Keep in mind, early on, the label came as a
result of “degree of differentness” and how
that was or was not valued by the current
society
• Typical labels: defective, deformed, crazy,
mad, dysfunctional
Jumping to the Middle Ages
• Not such a good time to be a person with a disability… The Ship of
Fools (an allegory for society’s treatment of the “other” from
Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of
Reason by Michel Foucault)
During this time period (14th-17th
Centuries)
• You might expect to be:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Killed
institutionalized
Put on display
Be forced into servitude
Humiliated for public folly
Experimented upon
Sterilized
Jailed
• If you were lucky, you
may have also lived a
reasonable lifeintegration within
agrarian cultures was
quite possible
Some Bright Spots
• Late 1700s
– Phillip Pinel-“La Terreur”, to remove the chains
– William Tuke- a Quaker who further expanded the
“moral treatment” movement
• Mid to lates 1800s
– Florence Nightingale
– Louis Braille
Remember, most folks did not receive
“moral treatment”
The 1900s- the “movements”
•
•
•
•
Eugenics
De-institutionalization
Education
Civil Rights & Activism
Eugenics
• In the United States, Dr. Alexis Carrel, a Nobel
prize winner who had been on the staff of the
Rockefeller Institute since its inception,
publishes his book "Man the Unknown."
• In it he suggests the removal of the mentally
ill and the criminal by small euthanasia
institutions equipped with suitable gases.
What is Eugenics?
• Eugenics is the study of, or
belief in, the possibility of
improving the qualities of
the human species or a
human population by such
means as discouraging
reproduction by persons
having genetic defects or
presumed to have
inheritable undesirable
traits (negative eugenics) or
encouraging reproduction
by persons presumed to
have inheritable desirable
traits (positive eugenics).
Random House, Inc. 21 Mar. 2009.
1930s- the most famous eugenicist
comes to power…
Nazis, Eugenics, and the T-4 Program
(1920-1950)
• Hitler's extermination policies began with
the widespread killing of institutionalized
disabled people in Germany in the 1940s
• Eugenics theories that were the basis for
Hitler's policies originated in the United
States in the 1920s
• Sterilization and euthanasia were not the
ideas of the Nazis. Germany, however, was
the only country in which the political
climate allowed materialization of the final
goal of sterilization and euthanasia.
•
http://www.disabilityhistory.org/t4prog.html
But, a little closer to home, Eugenics is in full
swing as a social “progressive” movement
•
Cary Buck’s Story
Carrie Buck, a poor white girl born to a poor white
mother. After being raped by a member of the family
that fostered her, she became pregnant and was sent in
disgrace to the Lynchburg Colony, a state institution first
set up as a colony for epileptics. There she encountered
Dr. Priddy who was an enthusiastic social engineer with a
sterilizing program of that had been blocked by a law
suit. He wanted to sterilize Carrie to prevent her from
having more children. With the help of local politicians
and Harry Laughlin they pushed the case of Carrie Buck
through to the Supreme Court, hoping to set a precedent
that would allow them to continue their work. The
expert witness who reported on Carrie's mental state
was Laughlin himself, who had never met or talked to
her. 'These people,' he wrote, 'belong to the shiftless,
ignorant, worthless class of antisocial whites of the
South.' Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes agreed. Holmes is
quoted stating that "three generations of imbeciles is
enough." He had decided that it was constitutionally
legal for states to sterilize anyone they decided was
eugenically undesirable. "The principle that sustains
compulsory vaccination," he elaborated, "is broad
enough to cover cutting the fallopian tubes." In other
words, the general health of society could be protected
at the expense of the rights of individuals.
Eugenics Policy and the USA
• 1918- unsterilized defectives should not be free in
public
• 1926- 23 states had mandatory sterilization laws
• 1927- US Supreme Court upholds
constitutionality of legislation
• Between 1925 and 1955 an estimated 50,000
people were forcibly sterilized in the US
Institutionalizationthe Dehumanization Years
• 1700s brings the creation of institutions to
house “criminals” so, at least we stopped
killing people…
• If you were lucky, you got sent to the asylum,
not the prison where there was “moral
treatment” movement and we tried to “cure”
you.
• Post-industrialization sees 100s of thousands
of persons with disabilities sent to institutions
• You could expect: puree food, no showers
(hoses, though), no clothes, no supervision,
no freedom, no recreation, no eating utensils,
no bed…)
Titicut Follies- 1967
by Frederick
Wisemen
Institutional Care and New Hampshire
• "Valley of Darkness" Laconia State Hospital
• A Cautionary Tale: The Story of Laconia State
School
Institutionalization- the Humanizing
years…
• Circa 1950- the Parents rise up and are heard
• New treatments were tried (e.g. ECT,
lobotomy, induced coma)
• Staff with training- a novel idea!
• Specific social interventions were tried (TR
gains a foothold during this time)
• “Thoughtful” segregation based on diagnosis
• And yet, institutions were really warehouses…
Activism- the Early years
• The League of the Physically Handicapped
• Excerpt: "The Physically Handicapped," declared in their flyers,
cannot get regular jobs as teachers or librarians in New York State. . . . Even a
typist must pass a physical examination. . . . In private business the Physically
Handicapped invariably are discriminated against. They work harder for less
wages. [Given this disability-based employment bias,] our League demands
that handicapped people receive a just share of the millions of jobs being
given out by the government. . . . The Handicapped still are discriminated
against by Private Industry. It is because of this discrimination that we demand
the government recognize its obligation to make adequate provisions for
handicapped people in the Works Relief Program.
– http://www.disabilityhistory.org/militanc.html
• United Cerebral Palsy
Disability Rights
Movement and
Deinstitutionalization
• Takin’ it to the streets…Ed
Roberts (UC Berkley and the
Rolling Quads)
• The Movement as Ed described
it
– "I'm tired of well meaning
noncripples with their
stereotypes of what I can and
cannot do directing my life and
my future. I want cripples to
direct their own programs and to
be able to train other cripples to
direct new programs. This is the
start of something big -- cripple
power. "
For more information on the disability rights
movement, visit:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/drilm/
But we’re not quite there…
• NIMBYism rises with the move toward
community based supports.
• While people are “released” from institutions,
community-based options are not readily
available
• This leads to several problems…
Education gets in the game- a free and
appropriate public education! (FAPE)
• PL 94-142 Education of All Handicapped
Children Act (1975)
• IDEA- Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (revised in 2004)
By 1995 we’re moving in the right
direction
• 3 states, NEW HAMPSHIRE, Vermont and
Michigan had NO institutions were more than
15 people resided.
• Healthy People 2010 (our national health
agenda) includes a new section addressing the
health-related needs of pwd.
Examples of Modern Day Disability
Rights Legislation
• Olmstead Act
– States must administer their services, programs, and
activities "in the most integrated setting appropriate
to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities”
• New Freedom Initiative
– Under President G.W. Bush, a nationwide effort to
remove barriers to community living for people with
disabilities.
• Americans with Disabilities Act– the civil rights legislation for persons with disabilities
(signed into law by the first Pres. Bush.)
Modern Day Activism
• United Cerebral Palsy - Life Without Limits and
the Big Sky Movement
• Hooverville
• Arnieville
– Video
“NOTHING ABOUT US
WITHOUT US”
2010, Queen Vishpla revisited
Sarah Reinertsen- Tri-athlete and the first woman with an
amputation to finish the Ford Ironman World Championship-The
grueling feat of athletism known as an Ironman triathlon comprises
a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run.
Visit Sarah’s website at:
http://alwaystri.net/homepagealwaystr.html