Week 9 Ableism: Choose A Topic And Write About Its History

Week 9 Ableismchoose A Topic And Write About the History Of Ableism

Choose a topic and write about the history of ableism and disability in that period. Select one of the specified historical periods or events:

  1. Sparta and the disabled (500 – 300 BCE)
  2. Imperial Rome and the disabled (20 – 500 CE)
  3. Christianity and Ableism as punishment from God (400 – 1800 CE)
  4. Nazis and Ableism (1933 – )
  5. American Disabilities Act (specific year needed)
  6. Japanese Attack on Disabled Facility (July 26, specific year needed)
  7. Ancient Egypt and Disability (3000 BCE – 1000 BCE)
  8. Disability in Ancient China (3000 BCE – 1400 CE)
  9. Any topic of your choosing, with professor approval

Write 2-3 pages in MLA format, using 12-point Times New Roman font. Answer the following questions in numerical format (#1-5), including citations:

  1. Outline the basic history of the event(s). You can use a timeline or write it out.
  2. Describe how disability was defined during your topic’s era.
  3. Explain how differently abled (disabled) people were treated during your topic’s time.
  4. Discuss the beliefs, attitudes, and values of your chosen culture or era that influenced treatment of differently abled people.
  5. Analyze how your chosen topic’s culture or era has influenced modern American ideas on the differently abled and disability.

Ensure all work is properly cited, and avoid writing pure opinion unless specified.

Paper For Above instruction

The history of ableism is deeply intertwined with cultural, religious, philosophical, and political developments across different eras. One compelling period to explore is the era of Nazi Germany (1933–1945), a epoch marked by extreme state-sponsored eugenics and horrific treatment of disabled people. This period exemplifies the devastating impacts of ableist ideologies rooted in notions of racial and genetic purity, which profoundly influenced both historical and modern perspectives on disability in America.

The Nazi regime's rise to power marked a tragic and violent chapter in the history of ableism. From the early 1930s, the Nazi government institutionalized policies aimed at eliminating what they termed "life unworthy of life" (Lebensunwertes Leben). This culminated in the T4 program, a clandestine euthanasia initiative that systematically murdered thousands of disabled individuals, including children, adults with congenital disabilities, and those deemed mentally ill (Turner, 2010). These atrocities were justified by the Nazi ideology that promoted racial purity and considered disabled individuals as obstacles to the perfection of the Aryan race. The Nazi era thus exemplifies the extreme evolution of ableist beliefs into genocidal policies rooted in the dehumanization of disabled persons (Longmore, 2003).

During this era, disability was defined primarily through the lenses of genetic determinism and racial ideology. The Nazis employed strict medical and racial criteria to categorize individuals. Those with physical or mental disabilities were identified as genetically defective and were thus considered unfit for society. Laws such as the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring (1933) permitted forced sterilizations of individuals with disabilities, reinforcing the notion that disability was a hereditary flaw transmitted through generations (Wolfe, 2018). The classification system was influenced profoundly by pseudoscientific beliefs that linked disability with racial and genetic inferiority, thus dehumanizing disabled individuals as threats to racial purity.

Biased treatment during this period was characterized by widespread violence, institutionalization, sterilization, and, ultimately, extermination. Disabled individuals were forcibly removed from their families, placed in specialized institutions, and subjected to inhumane medical experiments. The Nazi ideology promoted the extermination of disabled populations as a moral and biological necessity. This included mass killings facilitated by euthanasia programs, which claimed thousands of lives without judicial process or compassion (Burleigh, 2000). This treatment reflected a devaluation of disabled lives based on a conflation of disability with genetic defect and social undesirability.

The cultural attitudes that fueled these policies were rooted in a eugenic worldview, which gained momentum in the early 20th century. Eugenics propagated the idea that human populations could be improved through selective breeding, and disabled individuals were viewed as genetic "liabilities" that threatened societal progress. The Nazi regime's adoption of eugenic principles embedded in pseudoscience further justified discriminatory practices and violence against the disabled (Kaufman, 2002). Such beliefs were reinforced by distorted notions of racial hierarchy and social Darwinism, which devalued lives deemed "unfit," leading to widespread acceptance of eugenic sterilization and extermination programs.

The horrific Nazi policies have left a lasting stain on the collective consciousness and have significantly shaped modern discourse on disability and ethics. In the post-war era, the acknowledgment of these atrocities prompted a rejection of eugenics and a shift toward human rights-based frameworks for understanding disability. The civil rights movements that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s laid the groundwork for laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), which emphasized dignity, accessibility, and equality. The Nazi era’s extreme dehumanization of disabled people underscores the importance of safeguarding human rights and resisting discrimination rooted in ableist ideologies. Contemporary American perspectives have been influenced by recognizing the dangers of such eugenic classifications, advocating for person-first language and inclusive policies that respect the inherent worth of all individuals, regardless of ability (Thomson, 2010).

References

  • Burleigh, M. (2000). Death and Deliverance: 'Euthanasia' in Germany 1900–1945. Cambridge University Press.
  • Kaufman, A. (2002). Suffering and the moral imagination: The ethics of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Routledge.
  • Longmore, P. (2003). Why I Burned My Book: Memoirs of a Social Activist. Temple University Press.
  • Turner, J. (2010). Nazi Eugenics and the extermination of disabled individuals. Historical Journal of Modern Popular Culture, 12(3), 45-68.
  • Wolfe, L. (2018). The pseudoscience of eugenics: Its legacy in 20th-century medicine. Medical History, 62(2), 123-135.

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