Thread by @Nicole_Lee_Sch

This week in my #DisHist class we talked about the ugly laws and Susan Schweik's excellent book. For those who don't know ugly laws were passed in major cities across the 1800s and 1900s. These laws essentially prevented disabled people from existing freely in public. 1/5

In reality they targeted all minority groups: immigrants, Black and Indigenous people, homeless people, and disabled people. They basically ushered in slum clearing projects and they went hand in hand with institutionalization (in jails, workhouses, almshouses, etc). 2/5

Every single class students comment that time has passed but so little has changed. Disabled people still can't safely exist in public. We still can't rely on public spaces to be safe or accessible for us. 3/5

Nowadays it's not a set of laws that bar our existence, but a lack thereof (or a lack of enforcement). Our access to public transportation, public spaces of education, etc. are continuously compromised nowadays by bad pandemic policy. 4/5

And I just wonder - when will we be able to free exist? Without our lives on the line every time we leave our homes? 5/5 #DisabilityTwitter #AcademicChatter