Disability in America

In 1776 the United States of America was founded on the principles of liberty and justice for all, including the right to the pursuit of happiness. People from all over the world began to immigrate to the United States, with many of them seeking to escape persecution, just as the founders of our country did during the first and longest lasting period of immigration from 1600-1775. Due to public health scares following outbreaks of several communicable diseases, including smallpox, Americans began to view immigrants with resentment and suspicion and began to search for effective means to limit their access.

First, the Naturalization Act of 1790 declared citizenship limited to “free, white persons” of good character. Then, in 1882, the U.S. Congress passed the Act to Regulate Immigration, intended to prevent the entry into the United States of, among others, persons with mental disabilities, i.e., “lunatics” and those with other “undesirable” conditions. Finally, the Immigration Act of 1907 sealed the fate of those considered subnormal; it states, in part, that those refused admission shall include “all idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, epileptics, insane persons”, as well as “persons afflicted with tuberculosis or with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease”. On average, in any given year, approximately two percent, or twenty thousand immigrants, were denied entry based on insanity or visible disabilities. For this reason, Ellis Island is also known as “Heartbreak Island” or the “Island of Tears.”

About five thousand immigrants arrived daily, sometimes more, and it was difficult for staff to process them all thoroughly. In 1910 former Quaker school principal and prominent American psychologist and eugenicist Henry Goddard was tasked with developing an expedited intelligence testing system to weed out the “undesirables” attempting to pass through the gates of Ellis Island. Known for using terms such as “moron”, “imbecile”, and “idiot” to describe the subjects of his research, Goddard was once quoted as saying, “If all of the slum districts of our cities were removed tomorrow and model tenements built in their places, we would still have slums in a week's time because we have these mentally defective people who can never be taught to live otherwise than as they have been living. As a result of Goddard's two step testing system and stricter standards, the number of deported immigrants in subsequent years, specifically those with disabilities, increased dramatically.

Deportation was only one of the indignities conducted against people with disabilities in America, with the government's blessing. Throughout the nineteenth century and, incredibly, continuing into the twentieth century, many so-called “feeble-minded” people with various disabilities were forcibly sterilized, as per laws permitting the practice, to prevent reproduction of the “undesirables.” Sterilization occurred primarily through castration, which meant that the individual's ovaries or testicles were removed during an operation which the patient had not authorized and was unaware had happened until much later, sometimes never. Involuntary sterilization laws began in America in 1907, in Indiana. Other states soon followed and by 1930 the practice was legal in thirty-three states in America. In fact, more than 60,000 people underwent sterilization without their consent between 1920 and 1975. Religious organizations enthusiastically supported the practice and proponents pointed out the economic impact on society of those considered imbeciles or idiots and cited decreased welfare costs to be yet another benefit to sterilization.

Persons with disabilities are often viewed as inferior at best and insane at worst, even today and discrimination against them has been ubiquitous as far back as America has recorded history. In fact, as noted in Disability & Christian Theology, “When people with disabilities have been considered at all, they have historically been looked at as symbols of sin (to be avoided), images of saintliness (to be admired), signs of God’s limited power or capriciousness (to be pondered), or personifications of suffering (to be pitied)—very rarely are people with disabilities considered first as people”. Indeed, in centuries past, mental, and sometimes physical conditions such as epilepsy, blindness, and deafness were linked to sins committed by those afflicted or by their parents, as well as possession by evil spirits and/or demons and this attitude persists even today in the minds of many.

Today in America, there are approximately fifty-four million Americans with disabilities, and they represent the fastest growing minority group in the country. Additionally, at one time or another, every American will experience some kind of disability. Yet discrimination against those with disabilities persists, despite the introduction of laws designed to prevent such intolerance. For example, as per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III, Sec.36.304 (a) General: A public accommodation shall remove architectural barriers in existing facilities, including communication barriers that are structural in nature, where such removal is readily achievable, i.e., easily accomplished, and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense. Yet architectural barriers routinely prevent participation by those with disabilities.  Worse yet, people with disabilities often experience responses from their peers ranging from pity to revulsion and others look right through them, not able to see or appreciate the human being behind the disability.

One of my favorite quotes about disability comes from Scott Hamilton, professional ice skater and Olympic gold medalist, who said, “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” Until we, as a society, change our attitude about the natural condition of living with a disability and really learn to see and appreciate those individuals living with disabilities, they may never be equal in the eyes of society.