History
Disability History Articles and Information
The history of people with disabilities in America is a rich one that has not always been acknowledged. For most of our shared history, people with disabilities have been marginalized and invisible; there are a couple of reasons why this may be so. Nondisabled people see those of us who are and often see the things they fear most, such as an inability to control their individual lives or anatomy. Fear of these things can have a profound psychological effect on people, and people avoid what they are afraid of. Another reason disabled people have been left out of history is the medical view of people with disabilities.
In 1824, Thomas Gallaudet gave a sermon at Burlington and Montpelier in Vermont; in Portland, Maine; and in Concord, New Hampshire. The purpose of his sermon was to promote increased awareness of people who were "Deaf and Dumb." He wanted to help people of his time to understand that the words, "But, as it is written, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see and they that have not heard, shall understand", applied very literally to people who were hearing and speech impaired. He suggested that if we have the spirit of Paul we will not neglect the "heathens", or the hearing and speech impaired.
The year 1852 saw the New York State Asylum for Idiots first annual report, created by Dr. Wilbur, reach the state senate. During their first year, the Board of Trustees for the asylum met in July to appoint committees whose task it was to look for a suitable building in a good location, as well as to find a teacher they felt was competent for the job of instruction. They found the building they desired through Mr. Stephen Van Rensselaer, Esq., who leased his building to the board of trustees for around half the actual rental value of the building. The building was in good shape, needing only small numbers of repair, and some alterations were necessary.
The years 1890 – 1920 were an important period in disability history because they acted as a bridge between nineteenth century supernatural views of disability and the post 1920 medical model of disability. During this time period cripples were referred to as people who had mobility impairments, such as paraplegics and amputees, but were also financially dependent on other members of society for support. Cripple's reliance on charity caused them to become immoral characters that drained the lifeblood of the economy, it was believed. The path to elimination of cripple's dependency was through rehabilitation, according to the reformers of the time.
The need for assistance to enable cripples did not disappear, as the hospital-schools did, and President Roosevelt, on February 18th, 1931, gave a radio address concerning a program of assistance for the crippled. He talked about the reasons he felt it paid to "do things" for crippled children and adults. His approach was not the human one of easing the distress of people, but on the financial aspects of helping cripples gain a sense of productivity. His argument was largely based on the math of bringing crippled Americans back into the workforce.
Not all was going well for the person with a disability in the early-to-mid 1930's. Jobs were short, and in contrast to President Roosevelt's message only four years earlier, people with disabilities were having a hard time making a "come back." Frustrations grew, and on May 29th, 1935, a Wednesday, three young women and three young men entered the Emergency Relief Bureau in New York City; they were there to see the director of the program, one Oswald W. Knauth.
With the coming of World War II, the fight for jobs among people with disabilities began to fade, and people formerly considered "unemployable" found themselves in demand. In June of 1942, Crippled Child Magazine published an article on "The Physically Handicapped on the Industrial Warfront." The article begins by pointing out that sixteen workers were needed to produce equipment and supplies for a single soldier, and that because of this fact there were labor shortages in industries that were vital. Physically disabled people made up almost a third of America's unemployed at the time, and many of them became workers during the war effort.