Grand Guignol Department

David W. Boles over at Urban Semiotic has a terrific post from 2007 about the “Ugly Laws” –laws that were on the books in the 19thand 20th centuries  both in the United States and in Great Britain and which were designed to keep people with disabilities off the streets. This development came out of the eugenics  movement: it was believed that deformed or crippled people were a blight on healthy humanity and per force such people needed to be sequestered in back rooms or better yet in institutions.

This story isn’t news to disability studies scholars or to people with disabilities who have an interest in the history of disability and civil rights but its often a shocker to students taking a disability studies course for the first time. Of course once they’re shocked they are even more apalled to find that tens of thousands of people with disabilities are still living in institutions against their wills.

Like the ghost of old Marley in  “A Christmas Carol” the spirit of the eugenics movement still walks and drags along behind it the chains it forged a generation ago.

Each day as we read about the abuses being committed in state schools and institutions against the mentally ill or the developmentally disabled we are being hit over the head by the legacy of ugly laws and Social Darwinism. How is it possible that despite the fact that its more cost effective for people with disabilities to live in their own communities these antiquated and abusive institutions continue to exist?

The answer to this question is that the NIMBY principle and hieratic governmental administration work in tandem.  No one associated with state and local legislative bodies would openly declare his or her affection for the ugly laws but having a budget and an institution to administer is a time honored way to handle matters.

Yet as mentioned above its cheaper and altogether more humane for people with disabilities to live in their communities. There are also spin off benefits to be realized from this as young people can volunteer to help pwds who have returned to the public and dare we mention that with familiarity comes the civic life?

 

S.K.