feeble-minded asylums and institutions

*people with disabilities have always existed

• prior to disability rights legislation, the most common way of “dealing” with people who were mentally or physically disabled was to lock them away 

  • institutions and asylums for the “feeble-minded” opened all over the country between 1860 and 1940

    *they were shunned and determined “not-fit” for society

    • would shave their heads to dehumanize them like nazi germany in ww2

    • america trying to create the perfect human as they were determining what it meant to be fit vs. unfit

feeble-minded

• lacking in general intelligence or considered to displace a lack of productivity or “backward” behaviors 

  *not being a productive member of society and a burden to the people around them

  • viewed as they couldn’t move forward and progress

eugenics

• movement to try to “breed” the perfect human 

  • this is the practice of breeding better humans 

    • positive:

      • encouraging marriages and reproduction to enhance good traits such as strength, intelligence, height, beauty, etc.

    • negative:

      • preventing people that are “unfit” from having children of their own 

      *this is due to the fact that america is becoming a world power after ww1 (and backfires on them during the great depression)

      • time where they began restricting immigration and refusing the “less desirable” like jewish people

sterilization

• people who were considered “unfit” would be sterilized to prevent them from having children

  • this was almost always without their consent and against their will

    *this was to maintain the perfect species - eugenics

    • doesn’t want anymore of these people to be bred

      • the feeble-minded

      • sexual promiscuity

      • mental illness

      • physical disability

      • ‘pauperism’

  • still legal today with buck v. bell

buck v. bell (1927)

• carrie buck is poor and she gets put into foster care

  • one of her foster parents raped her and she got sent to a “feeble-minded” insitution (since she is now “unfit”) where she had her baby, but removed her reproductive organs by saying that they were removing her appendix as a cover up 

    • later, she wants to have a baby, but finds out she does not have any reproductive organs

  *ruling:

  • issue: can someone committed to a mental institution be sterilized?

  • decision: yes, a person that is “feeble-minded” can be sterilized against their will since there is a hearing beforehand to determine this 

    • this is STILL LEGAL today – especially in detention centers and prisons

      *affects males, but women are more prone to this 

eunice kennedy shriver and special olympics

• camp shriver: set up by eunice kennedy after getting a letter from a mom who couldn’t send her kid to regular camp

  • started in 1962 at the kennedy’s in maryland

    • march 1967 → first track meet in chicago

    • july 1968 → first international track meet (1000 athletes)

    • february 1977 → winter special olympics in colorado

    • july 2016 → millions of people registered to be athletes and partners with special olympics in 170 countries!

    *this led to the normalization of disabilities, beginning with children

rehabilitation act of 1973

*first law that said there must be a equal access to buildings, transportation, and employment

• also affirmative action programs

1. vocational act: access to job skill, independent living, and secondary education

2. section 504: applies to place who get federal funding → accommodations for employees and students with disabilities 

   **federal document! follows them in school and the workplace

individuals with disabilities education act (IDEA)

• idea of that children with various disabilities get to go to school, no matter what!

  • 1975 → schools have to have accommodations

  *the focus was on creating free public education for all students, including accommodations for students with disabilities

  • IDEA introduces the concept of individualized education plan (IEP)

    **school document! only applies in schools

    • prior to IDEA, students with disabilities were sent to special education schools that were often underfunded or incredibly expensive

capitol crawl (1990)

• people in wheelchairs crawl up the 100 steps of the capitol building

  *designed to showcase how inaccessible the capitol building was, and in relation, america was

  • how can those with disabilities even be in government, let alone be represented, if they cannot get up the steps and into their office?!

americans with disabilities act (ADA)

• after the capitol crawl of 1990, president george h. w. bush sr. signs the ADA

  *there are two goals of the ADA

  • prevent discrimination based on disability

  • ensure that accommodations and accessibility is widely available in public spaces and workplaces

the arc

• the largest community-based organization helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families

  • assists and provide support instead of trying to cure (unlike autism speaks)

people with disabilities' issues today

• accessibility 

  • 30 years later, this is still the number 1 problem people with disabilities are facing today

• lack of representation in media

• inaccessibility of media for the blind and/or deaf

  • descriptive audio and closed captioning

• discrimination against “invisible” disabilities