The Disability Social History Project

Douglas C. Baynton argues in his article, “Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History”, that the concept of disability is culturally constructed and has been paid little to no attention to throughout history. He also argues that the term disability plays an important role in justifying discriminations against minority groups, based on gender, race, and ethnicity. He states that “Disability has functioned historically to justify inequality for disabled people themselves, but it has also done so for women and minority groups. That is, not only has it been considered justifiable to treat disabled people unequally, but the concept of disability has been used to justify discrimination against other groups by attributing disability to them.” (Baynton 94) He used women’s suffrage, African American freedom, and immigration restriction as examples to show how disability played an essential role in illustrating how minorities who were labeled as disabled were treated with discrimination. As they were labeled with disability, discrimination against them became justifiable, which ultimately proves that discrimination against disabled was thought as justifiable and were looked over.

Prior to 1940’s, People with disabilities were excluded from society and were considered unable to learn. They are often placed in institutions under custodial care, considered unable to learn or benefit from regular educational programs. However, as early as in 1800s, some educators like Samuel Gridley Howe disagreed, believing that children with disabilities could learn and should have an education, not just custodial care.

Author of disability Nancy Mairs who’s a feminist and a cripple, has accomplished a lot in writing and teaching. Her remarkable personality shows in many of her essays especially in Disability which was first published in 1987 in the New York Times. In this essay, Nancy Mairs shows how disabled people are constantly excluded, especially from the media. By giving out facts and including her personal experiences, Mairs aims for making some changes regarding the relationship between the media and people with disabilities. Mairs thesis is shown implicitly in the first

The article “introducing disability Studies” by Ronald J. Berger was an eye opener in uncovering the past history of negative stigma associated with having a disability. Through history people have felt the need to stare at people with disabilities or to turn away in fear of maybe contracting the “disease”. This negative attitude was positively reinforced by ordinances such as the Chicago “ugly law” in which a person with physical deformities would have to pay a fine for simply being too “disgusting” looking to other citizens. This law was in place from 1880 to 1973, which is pretty recent in history. However there are positive glimpse in history when it came to uncovering and defining disabilities. Men like Leo Kanner and Asperger have dedicated

People with disabilities were also forced to enter institutions and asylums. Society hid people with disabilities from a mean, fearful, and biased world. This continued until the Civil War and World War I when our veterans returned in a disabled state expecting the US government to provide some sort of help or rehabilitation in exchange for their service in the nation. Although President Roosevelt was the first president with a disability to take office was a great advocate for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities, the nation was still operated under the assumption that being disabled was and abnormal condition and needed to be medically cured. In the 1940's and 1950's, World War II veterans started placing pressure on the government for rehabilitation for their disabilities. The veterans made it more visible to a country filled with thankful citizens who were concerned about the well-being of the men who sacrificed their lives for their country. By the 1960's, the civil rights movement began to take place and disabled citizens saw this as an opportunity to join forces along with the minority groups to demand equal treatment, equal access, and equal opportunity for people with disabilities. The Disability Rights Movement just like the others faced negative attitudes and stereotypes. In the 1970's, disability rights activists lobbied congress and marched on Washington to include civil rights language for people with disabilities into the 1972 Rehabilitation

Author of disability Nancy Mairs who’s a feminist and a cripple, has accomplished a lot in writing and teaching. Her remarkable personality shows in many of her essays especially in Disability which was first published in 1987 in the New York Times. In this essay, Nancy Mairs shows how disabled people are constantly excluded, especially from the media. By giving out facts and including her personal experiences, Mairs aims for making some changes regarding the relationship between the media and people with disabilities. Mairs thesis is shown implicitly in the first and last

In a debate between the social construction of disability and the medical model, I would side with social construction of disability. Prior to reading Chapter 3 of Rethinking Disability, I would have sided with the medical model since that was the only approach I was made aware of. In all of my studies, this is the method that I was shown. I was taught that if a student presents symptoms of having a disability, the teacher would include the parents and the student to undergo all of the steps such as, the examination, diagnosis, prescription, and follow up. We are so used to this process that we do not look beyond it to analyze what this really means. As stated in the chapter, after these students are diagnosed with all these labels, society

In Nancy Mairs' essay, “Disability” she emphasizes that able-bodied advertisers do not want disabled people to advertise their product. The advertisers claim they do not want to cause confusion as to whom the product is for. But Nancy Mairs believes that it is to protect able-bodied people from the thought of being

In the 1991 film The Doctor, we are led through the life journey of a heart surgeon, Jack McKee. After being faced with terrible news regarding a malignant tumor on his vocal cords, Jack 's experiences as a patient for the first time changes his perspective of how he views the world, as well as treating patients as a whole. Through this journey we see a huge transition in Jack 's demeanor as the roles are switched and he sees through the lives of his patients.

At the end of the Civil War, Andrew Johnson alleged our nation 's supposed investment in our veterans by claiming that “ a grateful people will not hesitate to sanction any measures having for their relief of soldiers mutilated...in an effort to preserve our national existence.” Since then, our changing perception of disabled veterans of military service has affected the success and practice of their rehabilitation. Historians and social scientists have found it difficult to understand the process of identity formation among disabled veterans. This difficulty is rooted in historian’s inability to make sense of the disabled veteran’s history, social position, and representation in culture and discourse. Historian Paul Lawrie, who argues one of many interpretations of how these veterans are represented, believes that the conflation of disability and blackness denied African-American veterans basic human rights in the time after World War II. However, as racial prejudices slowly improved over the course of the century, historians interpreted other social, political, and cultural forces as main influences of the formation of representation of these veterans. Historians have suggested that, in addition to race, social welfare policy, film, and gender have all worked in cohesion, or in conflict at times, to determine these representations.

What socio-historical factors play into the social construction of disabilities? Please be specific and provide examples to support your answers.

This weeks reading discusses different models through which to understand disability. The historical and social models of disability include: medical, rehabilitation, disability, and moral models. The medical model results from a person’s physical or mental limitations rather than social environments. The rehabilitation model regards disability as a fault that must be fixed by rehabilitation professional. According to The Definition of Disability, Deborah Kaplan states,” The disability model is defined as a dominating attitude by professionals and others, inadequate support services when compared with society generally, as well as attitudinal, architectural, sensory, cognitive, and economic barriers, and the strong tendency for people to generalize about all persons with disabilities overlooking the large variations within the disability community"(Kaplan).

Disability Rights and Culture Community Resource Guide Disability Rights and Culture: An Overview For all the children with a parent dealing with their parent going through with dementia. It is somewhat normal to have a parent of age deal with memory loss, mainly a brain disease called Alzheimer’s disease. This disability can cause an unexpected of confusion, emotional disturbance and behavior changes.

In my essay you will learn about Jamaican and Haitian culture and their outlooks on disability. Laster on you will see the comparisons between those two cultures and the American culture. I selected the Jamaican culture because it has always been a dream of mine to visit Jamaica. I selected Haiti because I am not well educated on their culture.

Despite the response to disability varying greatly between times, places and cultures (Barnes, 2012), there is no doubt that disability has an immeasurable impact on people’s lives. Disability affects an individual’s identity and their ability to work, socialise and be involved in society. In this essay I will discuss how approaches to disability have changed over time, specifically how approaches to disability have developed in recent centuries. I will start by discussing the medical model before moving on to its direct challenge in the social model. Finally I will discuss responses to the social model, in particular the biopsychosocial model.