Disability History in the United States

Dr. Kiesling's lecture briefly explaining the history of treatment of people with disability was bittersweet. It showed us the horrors and the misunderstanding of people with disability, but it showed us how far we have come in society. I have previously listened to podcasts speaking about asylums and mental institutions, and I have even written a paper about the treatment people with disability have endured in the last couple centuries. Even with some previous knowledge of this topic, Dr. Kiesling still made an impact as if I was learning all of this for the first time. 

What stuck out to me the most was the evolution of how we have talked about people with disability. We began in such a dark place, where people would be cast aside and forgotten. Eugenics was prominent, which surprised me because I had always imagined that people hid those ideas from the public. I knew that many asylums were begun in hopes for a better future for people who had disability, but that these places were quickly overrun. Families would try to assuage their guilt for abandoning a family member with hopes that a new facility would be a good place for them. But of course, through more awareness and desire to help those in need, we began changing how we treated people with disabilities. I was struck by the tenacity of some of the people who pushed for reform in disability legislation and changes in established institutions. Ed Roberts was inspiring in the way that he was able to push to go to Berkeley and eventually was able to be a director for the very group that denied him years earlier.