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How Were Disabled People Treated In The Early 20th-Century

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http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2010/12/disabled-children-british http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/exhibits/quest/treatment/1930-1950.asp https://attitudes2disability.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/historical-outline/ Grabber: Beaten, taken advantage of, embarrassed, made shameful. All the ways that the mentally disabled were treated in the early 20th-century. Blurb: The mentally disabled were treated as animals and experimental guinea pigs. They were forced to live in horrible conditions, no room, shown no love or care. They were separated from their families, and weren’t able to contact them in any way. Thesis Statement: The manner in which people with mental illnesses were treated in the early to mid 20th-century was inhumane and brutal, and is a dark stain on the history of mental illness health and treatment in America. …show more content…

All the ways that the disabled were treated and made felt in the early 20th-century. The disabled were treated as animals and experimental guinea pigs. They were forced to live in institutions where they were forced to live in horrible conditions, small living spaces, and shown no love or care. They were forced to constantly undergo experimental “treatments” and surgeries. They were separated from their families, and weren’t able to contact them in any way. The manner in which people with disabilities were treated in the early to mid 20th-century was inhumane and brutal, and is a dark stain on the history of disability treatment in America and is incomparable to the treatment that people with disabilities receive

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In the 1800s, the mentally ill and prisoners were forced to live in wretched conditions and often were not even treated as regular citizens. Patients of mental institutions were operated on so they were more controllable. The mentally insane that did not live at home were kept in prisons, few were in faulty poorhouses, and even fewer were in hospitals. Many hospitals had mental wards, but they were inadequate for patients. In the 1840s, Dorothea Dix visited many prisons where the deranged were kept and found that these conditions were unsuitable for living quarters (“Dorothea Dix Biography”).

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Andre Dubus was once able-bodied, who then lost both legs in a car accident. He has experienced both ends of the spectrum, pitying for the disabled and rejecting that pity placed on him. He begins his essay, Why the Abled-Bodied Still Don’t Get It, with two contradictory anecdotes: “I read the newspaper story about a 34-year-old man...he is a quadriplegic.” (Dubus). He then juxtaposed to “I was hit by a car...lost my left leg above the knee; my right leg was too damaged to use.” (Dubus).

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There was no free health care and many people suffered because they could not afford treatment. Elderly people have been particularly unfairly treated as they are more frail and vulnerable, and employers have not been willing to help them as they could easily be replaced by younger people. Kristoforas was born crippled and considered a burden by his own family. They called it “a nuisance, and a source of endless trouble in the family.” (Sinclair 104)

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“Only 50 years ago persons with intellectual disabilities were scorned, isolated and neglected. Today, they are able to attend school, become employed and assimilate into their local community” (Nelson Mandela). Prior to the later part of the 20th century people with intellectual disabilities were often ridiculed, treated unfairly, feared, and locked away in institutions. According to Rhonda Nauhaus and Cindy Smith in their article Disability Rights through the Mid-20th Century, The laws of any nation reflect its societal values. The real life issue of discrimination towards people with intellectual disabilities in the United States and Australia is demonstrated in the novel, Of Mice and Men by showing how this issue affects one of the main characters, Lennie Smalls.

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When stepping inside a hospital to receive help, one should expect care, treatment, and respect. However, shown in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and “Howl,” American society equates mental illness with inhumanity. In both texts, the characters are forced to live without basic human freedoms and a voice to change it. Society pressures the mentally ill into becoming submissive counterparts of the community by stripping away their physical freedoms, forcing inhumane treatment, and depriving them the freedom of expression. By pressuring confinement and treating the patients inhumanely, society strips away their freedom to express themselves.

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In today’s world, oppression of women, African Americans, and disabled people is still a problem, but since the era of the Great Depression society’s views of these people have greatly improved. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck it is shown how oppression among these types of people was commonplace. This novel begins with two men named Lennie and George; these men travel together and George takes care of Lennie who is mentally disabled. George and Lennie have to flee out of the town, Weed, after an incident happened. They travel to a different town and begin working on a ranch, and shortly later another fatal occurrence happens.

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The University of Pennsylvania suggests that there is still a demand for asylums among the severe mentally ill. However, the medical and mental practices of these facilities show reflect the factual definition of asylum, and provide safety and aid to each patient. Mental institutions may allow for mentally ill individuals to avoid discrimination and isolation from society due to their condition. Although conditions for those affected by mental illness as improved, mental health is still shaded by dated stereotypes and outlooks on the topic, and this

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1908, a small wooded town, nestled in Pennsylvania, has just opened its doors to a new kind of care. The care for the uncared and unwanted people that live in the area now have a place to go. The name Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution of the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, has been spelled out on a sign in front of an assortment of buildings with a great amount of land surrounding it. The idea of opening Pennhurst, was to house those who were disabled and to provide assisted care to the people with developmental disabilities. People viewed this place as a model institution that was the result in the so called progressive era to be a resolution to the public society to deal with those who are disabled.

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Asylums weren’t always like the ones we imagine today, full of harm in and inhumane acts. However, with the increase of asylums in the 1900s, the average amount of patients house increased from 115 in 1806 to over 1000 in the 1900s. The optimism Once present among the people that those with mental abnormalities could be cured vanished, no longer did people believe in a cure for abnormal behavior. Instead of asylums aiming to rehabilitate, they became a place where the “crazy” or “insane” go to live out the rest of their lives

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We think it’s common sense to say hello to your neighbor, hold the door open for the person behind you, or even sit next to someone in class, but that has not always been the case. At one point in time, civil rights was not for everyone. We all remember the women suffering and the african-americans being segregated, but most forget how hard the disabled community worked to be treated as equals. By utilizing the strategies of previous civil rights movements, the American Disabilities Act (ADA) wanted to extend basic civil rights to the disabled community. It started in 1973 with Section 504 which helped people to recognize that even though there are many different variations, the disabled are a legitimate minority who are subjected to discrimination

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