2 Some History on Oppression and Discrimination

*Content Warning:* eugenics, violent hate crimes, segregation

Eugenics

Possibly the one of the earliest forms of oppression and discrimination, eugenics aims to remove people with disabilities or other supposed “undesirable traits” from the population via termination, sterilization, inhumane experimentation, and institutionalization.

https://everybody.si.edu/citizens/eugenics

https://www.history.com/topics/germany/eugenics

https://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/tree/54d39e27f8a0ea4706000009

https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25632&LangID=E

Ugly Laws and Harassment

Social constructs of disability being “undesirable” eventually evolved into being criminal acts in which persons with disabilities could be harassed, arrested, removed, or institutionalized simply for being visible.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-ugly-laws-disabilities-chicago-history-flashback-perspec-0626-md-20160622-story.html

https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/article/San-Francisco-once-pioneered-ugly-laws-15098902.php

http://jaapl.org/content/41/1/143

Segregation

Institutionalization and segregation discounted and “hid away” people with disabilities. Echoes of this widespread practice still exist today to varying degrees.

https://pasilc.org/independent-living/history-independent-living/

https://dredf.org/news/publications/disability-rights-law-and-policy/the-right-to-community-integration-for-people-with-disabilities-under-united-states-and-international-law/

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/what-deinstitutionalization

Discrimination

Despite centuries of advocacy and protest, civil rights protections for people with disabilities in the United States did not begin becoming legislation until the 1970s. The work of people with disabilities and their allies continues to this day.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-30-years-since-signing-americans-disabilities-act-180975409/

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/sitting-disability-rights-section-504-protests-1970s

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/504-sit-in-san-francisco-1977-disability-rights-advocacy

https://www.projectfreedom.org/2017/11/the-1977-disability-rights-protest-that-broke-records-and-changed-laws/

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/backgrounders/disability-rights-movement

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/ada-disabilities-act-history.html

https://www.nps.gov/articles/disabilityhistoryrightsmovement.htm

In the next chapter, we’ll review specifics of the legislation that has passed regarding disabilities.