BY STUDENTS IN JRN 111, MEDIA WRITING
As late as the 1970s in Chicago, people with disabilities were legally banned from being seen in public under Ugly Laws. Through the years, Americans with disabilities have been institutionalized “for their own good.” They have even been sterilized as a way to “improve the genetic quality of the human race.”
The ugly history of disability rights in America was the topic of a recent presentation in the Moraine Valley library by Access Living, a service and advocacy organization in Chicago for disabled people. The Sept. 17 event was part of the library’s One Book, One College program.
Disability affects 1 in every 4 U.S. adults–around 64 million people–according to Access Living’s Ashley Eisenmenger.
Historically, individuals with disabilities often found their rights stripped away piece by piece. They were excluded from the narrative and often hidden from the public eye. While Ugly Laws were widespread, Chicago’s lasted the longest, from 1911-1974.
“They made existing as as disabled person in public a fineable offense,” Eisenmenger said.
The idea was shocking to members of the audience, including psychology major Haley Stacken, 19: “It was horrendous, how you could tell someone to not go outside just because they are not your version of perfect. I feel very sorry for the people that had to face this.”
Institutionalization meant that children who could otherwise live fulfilling and free lives would have their hopes ripped away from them according to the discretion of medical practitioners, citing that it would “give the child the best chance at life.” Even today, people who are both disabled and not disabled are institutionalized in prisons, jails, nursing homes and long-term care facilities, Illinois having some of the highest institutionalization rates.
“It was horrendous, how you could tell someone to not go outside just because they are not your version of perfect.”
Psychology major Haley Stacken
Society stripped away the rights of disabled individuals in even more shocking ways. By 1935, 24 states had laws that allowed for the sterilization of people with disabilities, according to Eisenmenger.
People who were framed as “confirmed imbeciles” were forcibly sterilized. It was seen as a way to “improve the genetic quality of the human race,” Eisenmenger said, but “the real aim was to have control of who should and shouldn’t reproduce.”
These laws stemmed not only from contempt for and misconceptions about people with disabilities, but they were also rooted in racism. Court trials were held to decide which people with disabilities were fit or unfit to reproduce. Often, misinformation was used to rule in favor of the state.
The news, however, wasn’t all bleak. Advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities in America has a long history of challenges but also triumph.
Eisenmenger cited specific movements and acts that have furthered the rights of people with disabilities: the Self Advocacy Movement, the successful 504 sit-in protest of 1977, the introduction of Medicaid, the ongoing national grass-roots community ADAPT, the Independent Living Movement, the Capitol Crawl protest of 1990 and others.
Her presentation highlighted how, while those in the disabled community have met challenges, they’ve also formed communities and taken a proactive stance on education and advocacy that has sparked change.
“I think it is very eye-opening to learn about some of the things they face,” Stacken said. “This is a very serious issue that needs to be covered. I feel like we should learn about disabilities when we are at a young age so people can be better integrated into the classroom instead of being segregated like how it is today.”
Eisenmenger, who is blind, said she understands the importance of education on this topic better than most. She has an extensive knowledge on disability rights, but not a lot of that knowledge can be credited to the school system.
“I didn’t receive any formal education about disability until 5th grade,” she said. “I had to learn so much of this content to be able to teach it, because it’s my own history, it’s my own people’s lives, and it’s wild to me that this isn’t regularly taught.”
Eisenmenger is a very driven person who seems to have her hands in everything. She has done TEDx talks, and she founded the North Central College triathlete team.
“I don’t want kids to think that they can’t be in certain things or show up in certain places. Telling my story, and having conversations like today, is to make sure that people know that they get to exist in all of the places and spaces they want to.”
Ashley Eisenmenger, Access Living
“One of my big motivators now is, I don’t want kids to think that they can’t be in certain things or show up in certain places,” she said. “Telling my story, and having conversations like today, is to make sure that people know that they get to exist in all of the places and spaces they want to.”
Assuring people with disabilities that there is a space for them is one of her big goals as an advocate. She travels to colleges to spread awareness on the topic of disability rights. She speaks to younger generations because she thinks they have a pivotal role to play in this subject.
“Y’all are the ones that are going to dictate whether younger generations of people with disabilities have access to get hired, have jobs, and I think you are at pivotal points in your lives where learning this stuff now will inform what you do moving forward,” she said.
Events like these help people understand some of the nuances of disability, said Moraine Valley counselor Sharon Brennan, who was in attendance: “Disability can be seen or unseen, and with that comes a lot of assumptions about what it must be like, and what people can do–what they should do, shouldn’t do.”
Brennan said that at Moraine Valley, help for students with disabilities is just a message away. She encourages students to reach out to the Center for Disability Services, emphasizing that it allows them the accommodations they need for equal access to education.
Presentations like these are important for paving the way to a better future, Brennan said.
“What helps people know how to move forward is to also understand where it all began,” she said. “I do feel like in a lot of ways, we are moving in the right direction.”
Librarian Tish Hayes, one of the event’s organizers, summed it up this way: “Rights don’t come easy. They only come with a fight.”
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