Disability Resources at MNHS

Understanding of disability and who identifies as disabled have changed throughout history.  The following timeline is meant as a broad overview of some of the dominant themes and attitudes at different times, and cannot reflect all viewpoints or nuances.  

• 1800's - 1850's 
  • During the early 1800s, care for the disabled was dependent mostly on family members or private charitable organizations. 
  • Starting in 1841 with P.T. Barnum's American Museum, persons with visible disabilities might also be used as "curiosities" to entertain the public in traveling carnivals and circuses.  It may also have given some persons a place where they were able to work, live, and form their own society with those who shared key parts of their identity.  For more on this topic, see the Barnum Museum Collections online.  
  • Some regarded persons with disabilities as morally or religiously flawed, and something to be "fixed" through moral rectitude and religious observances.  Epilepsy, in particular, was seen and described as an issue of moral failure, not a natural condition of the body some have. 
  • Throughout this era, there is a rising view of some disabilities as objects of pity and appropriate subjects for charity work, though this view varied widely by class and location. 
  • Rural settings were believed to be beneficial for some types of disability, especially mental disability or illness, so reformer Dorothea Dix asked Congress in 1848 to set aside 5 million acres for institutions to serve the mentally ill and epileptic in rural colonies.  A later version of the bill passed Congress in 1854, but was vetoed by President Franklin Pierce.
• 1850's - 1900's 
  • The era of "out of sight, out of mind" led to the growth of state funded institutions to care for the mentally and physically disabled considered unable or unwilling to function in societally accepted manners. 
  • The prevalence of the "charity" and "moral" models of disability lead to many private and public institutions and organizations with their own theories on "solving the problem" of disability or aiding the disabled. Some, such as the Minnesota schools for the blind and deaf, offer minimal educational and vocational training, while others are custodial only.  See the “State Hospitals” and "State Schools" tabs for more information about institutions in Minnesota.
  • Liberal commitment laws lead to overcrowding, deteriorating conditions, and neglect in many institutions, while societal stigmas attached to "abnormal" minds or bodies leave persons trapped in the system.  Reforms toward the end of this era lead to attempts to create "isolated communities" within the institutions through the Kirkbride cottage system. 
  • Many communities passed "Ugly Laws" forbidding the "diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed" from walking the streets, on penalty of a jail sentence. (The last U.S. "Ugly Law" was repealed by Chicago, Illinois, in 1974).
• 1920's - 1940's 
  • The 1920s began with the growing popularization of a debunked pseudoscientific theory called "Eugenics".  Eugenics started in the late 1800s in England, and soon spread to other countries, using a misapplication of the theories of Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel to support the idea of "racial improvement" through selective breeding toward a "perfect human being".  Toward this end, it was judged that "idiots, imbeciles, epileptics, the feebleminded, and insane" should not be allowed to have children. 
  • Indiana passed the first forced sterilization law in 1907.  Minnesota followed with its own law in 1925.  Persons with such conditions who were to be allowed back to their communities underwent involuntary or coerced consent sterilization (predominantly applied to women).  See the Library Eugenics in Minnesota Research Guide for more on this topic.
• 1940's - 1970's -
  • A series of articles in national and local publications lead to outrage over conditions in institutions serving those with intellectual, physical, or mental disabilities or mental health issues.  In Minnesota, major reform is led by Governor Luther Youngdahl and several private organizations. 
  • The Disability Rights Movement is founded in the late 1950s, with protests often organized in conjunction with the Civil Rights Movement.  The exclusion of disabled Americans as a protected class in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, however, leads separation into an independent movement with many facets, including housing reform, educational access, deinstitutionalization, and accessible or barrier-free architecture and transportation. 
  • For mental health care, the passing of the 1963 Community Mental Health Act began to provide federal money to individual counties for community care. This leads to the eventual closing of many state institutions and an emphasis on encouraging community living for adults with developmental or intellectual disabilities previously institutionalized.  Federal money is also provided for public educational needs, leading to the Title I and Special Education programs. 
  • The National Council on Disability is established as an advisory board for the federal Department of Education and the United Nations General Assembly issues a Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons (1975).
• 1980's - 2000's -
  • By the 1980s and 1990s, educational best practices advocated for the inclusion of all children in the same classroom ("mainstreaming") to the extent possible with adaptations for disabilities.  Charter schools provide learning environments adapted for those with certain disabilities, such as the Metro Deaf School-Minnesota North Star Academy.
  • The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act established those with disabilities as a protected class, though some courts and businesses used a very narrow definition of "disability", leading to the law's amendment in 2008 to overturn several court rulings. 
  • Several landmark court cases, including the Welsch case and the Jensen Lawsuit change the way institutions for those with certain disabilities function and create support for community and home based care.
  • The accessible architecture movement led to the principle of universal design, which holds that the initial design should be as inclusive as possible, and applied it to technology and other aspects of life beyond physical barriers.  Several federal laws began to advocate for accessible adaptations in technology and the World Wide Web, including screen readers, readable fonts, and adaptive devices for computer control.  
• 2000's - Today - 
  • Disabilities are acknowledged as a natural part of the human experience, and person-first and identity-first language is becoming standard.  Many negative stereotypes and harmful models of disability persist, however.
  • Multiple states, including Minnesota, acknowledge and apologize for past discrimination against the disabled community, most notably forced institutionalization and sterilization. 
  • Societal concepts of "normal" begin to change in some areas, especially as COVID, wars, and other societal changes expand the numbers of Americans with disabilities or mental health issues. 
  • Many police units begin to add training or advisors after several incidents involving the deaths of those in mental health crises during confrontations with police.  
  • Advocacy for and concepts of disability, equality, and accessibility continue to evolve.