The Disability Rights Movement In The USA
DISCLAIMER: this is a very bad article, kept up because I can’t work out how to delete it.
(Written in January for a student magazine.)
Compared to other wide-reaching social justice issues like sexism, racism, and LBGT+ rights, disability often seems to get the “short end of the stick.” However, the US disabled rights movement has an intense and intersectional history that deserves to be more well-known.
An important thing to understand, firstly, is that disabled rights aren’t just about accommodation and medical care; into the 1970s, the so-called “ugly laws” meant that in many American cities, disabled people merely existing in the public view was deemed a crime. Central to the early Disability Rights Movement were two demands: personal autonomy and freedom from residential institutions.
Through to the 1960s, it was common practice to transfer guardianship of a disabled child to an institution. These institutions, well, instituted, severe and systemic abuse: their inmates lived in squalor, with physical restraints, assaults and neglect the normal. (If you want more information on institutional abuse of the disabled, the Judge Rotenberg Centre of MA is still operational today, and, among many other forms of abuse, subjecting its residents to electric shocks as ‘discipline’.) [UPDATE: the FDA finally outlawed so-called “electric shock therapy” at the JRC after years of campaigning by disabled activists. Other methods of torture are still used in the facility.]
Started in 1970, the UC Berkeley Disability Services Program (DSP) was the first of its kind in the country. It provided support for disabled students of the university. Two of its first participants were Ed Roberts and German immigrant John Hessler. Based in Cowell Hospital, they rapidly grew in numbers, and began calling themselves the “Rolling Quads”. This is the typical disability activist group story: grassroots and ‘do-it-yourself,’ tied together by a strong sense of community and a demand to be treated better.
Abled people (both able-bodied and neurotypical) who say they want to help aren’t automatically trusted, because in the past — and present — abled people saying they want to help has been explanation and justification for abuse and oppression. However, the disabled community has had some exemplary allies. One such valuable support was members of the 1960s Civil Rights movement, including African Americans who weren’t disabled. The activism veterans lent support to organisation and resources, and an additional loud voice for disabled rights. During one sit-in protest held by a group of disabled people, food was banned in an attempt to starve the protestors out. However, local members of the Black Panther party ignored this ban and provided them with food.
Of course, central to any activism movement is its art. As well as a range of visual media, the disability rights movement has its own unique music genre, a mixture of grunge, blues, and country, often with slurred and otherwise “impaired” vocals. One of the greatest artists in the disabled music scene is Johnny Crescendo. Perhaps the most well-known of his songs is “Choices and Rights”. Slightly closer to the present day, in the early 2000s, activists Leeroy F. Moore Jr and Keith Jones began a movement called krip-hop: hip-hop written and performed by disabled artists. Krip-hop is very much still a living and growing movement.
On the 6th of July 1990, ADA — the Americans with Disabilities Act — was passed. It had first been introduced to the house and senate two years earlier, based on a recommendation made in 1986. Progress is slow, but we — as I am thrilled and proud to include myself in the collective of disabled rights activists — force it into being. Among others, religious and business interests lobbied against the bill, as it would be an inconvenience to them. This ‘inconvenience’ is something disabled people are often seen as, and it was in fact weaponised to pass the bill. The Capitol Crawl occurred days before the bill was passed. Disabled people left their mobility aids and dragged themselves up all 100 steps to the Capitol building, while other protestors stood below and offered their support. Several congresspeople were “inconvenienced” by having to avoid them, and disabled people generally hold that this contributed greatly to its passing. While it is less widely known, many of the protesters also entered the capitol building itself, reusing to leave until it was passed. Some people chained their wheelchairs to each other.
Currently, the disability rights movement is expanding from a focus on physical disabilities (like cerebral palsy and Deafness) to more openly include mental and invisible disabilities (like Autism and lupus). The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network — ASAN — is among the country’s most prominent disabled rights organisations. One of the others is ADAPT, the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, which has chapters in 30 states. While the movement isn’t a “front-runner” issue, so to speak, it continues to be significant.
I am proud of its legacy. I am hopeful, too, that one day it will take its place at the forefront of society.
