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Kim E. NielsenA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section discusses ableism, racism, enslavement, and mental illness. The source text’s use of outdated and offensive terms is replicated only in quotations.
Almshouses were charitable housing facilities that began to be in regular use by the end of the colonial period in America. According to Nielsen, these met many community needs but were “a general dumping ground for all those unable to support themselves financially” (37).
The Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA, is described by Nielsen as “the best-known civil rights legislation for those with disabilities” (180). She explains that at the time of its passage in 1990, it impacted an estimated 43 million people. The ADA built upon the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, and even the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In Chapter 6, Nielsen describes eugenics as “the belief that the way to improve society is through better human breeding practices so that only those with ‘positive’ hereditary traits reproduce” (101). Although eugenics was widely discredited by many scientists, it was embraced by many at the turn of the 20th century. Supporters of eugenics believed that criminality, immorality, and “feeble-mindedness” were hereditary, as were responsibility and leadership (101). The belief in eugenics and the growing concerns about the changing nature of the nation’s citizens led to strict immigration policies and forced sterilization laws.
Originally known as the National Deaf-Mute College, Gallaudet College (now Gallaudet University) is a private university in Washington, DC, for the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school but went on to become “the premier educational institution for deaf Americans” (95). Nielsen explains that “the creation of Gallaudet reflected the continued expansion of institutions and residential schools for people with disabilities that had begun decades earlier” (96).
The Invalid Corps, later known as the Veteran Reserve Corps, was a military reserve organization established by the Union Army during the Civil War. It was created to release able-bodied men for fighting while using veterans with disabilities for other labor. In Chapter 5, Nielsen explains that the Invalid Corps established by President Lincoln and the War Department eventually included 20,000 men scattered across the country.
In Chapter 5, Nielsen explains that oralism is “the belief that deaf people can and should communicate without the use of sign language, relying exclusively on lip reading and oral speech” (96). In the years following the Civil War, the rise of oralism led to drastic changes for deaf people because sign language had, until then, been regularly taught and used.
Also known as infantile paralysis and poliomyelitis, polio is a virus that attacks the central nervous system. While it has been eradicated in the United States, it once created widespread fears and quarantines. In Chapter 7, Nielsen explains that polio hit the US very late in the 19th century and had several epidemics in the early 20th century, leading to thousands of deaths and rendering many children disabled.
Because the slave trade existed to make money, an enslaved person with a disability resulted in a loss of profit. Nielsen explains in Chapter 3 that when slave ships landed in North America, “slaves with discernible physical, psychiatric, or cognitive disabilities were damaged goods” (46). Such enslaved people became known as “refuse slaves” and were sold for lower prices.
Scientific racism is the belief that humans can be subdivided into races and that some races are mentally and physically superior. Nielsen discusses scientific racism in Chapter 4, pointing out that many educators and medical “experts” in the 19th century believed that European descendants had larger skulls than African Americans and thus greater intelligence.
Section 504 refers to the language near the conclusion of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that states that people with disabilities should not “be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance” (166). While the act passed in 1973, it was never properly enforced, leading to major protests in Washington, DC, and each of the 10 Health, Education, and Welfare offices around the country. The protest, and the support they received from various outside groups, marked a major turning point for the disability rights movement.