Body Politics: Disability in America

BackStory

Education, History

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2015

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The impact of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act is visible in parking lots, bathrooms, and public buildings across the country. But for centuries before the ramps and signs were erected, disabled people had to find their own ways to navigate American society. This week on BackStory, we’re exploring the history of disability in America, from the “ugly laws” that barred the disabled from public spaces to the grassroots activism that set the stage for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Guys will consider how the inventor of the telephone tried to stamp out American sign language, and how enslaved people found ways to exploit white fears of physical disability. How have people with disabilities shaped 21st century America? And how have American attitudes towards disability changed?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is backstory. I'm Ed Ayers.
0:02.0	For three days, students have shut down the campus, boycott in classes, and burned effigies.
0:08.0	This was the scene at Gallaudet University in 1988. The nation's only university for the
0:13.0	death and heart of hearing had operated for more than a century without a president who was
0:17.5	one of their own, so students demanded one.
0:20.0	It changed not just the way hearing people saw deaf people. It changed the way deaf people
0:26.5	feel about ourselves.
0:27.5	Americans with disabilities have long fought for their own voice, while others have tried
0:32.3	to speak for them. A hundred years ago, disability reformers tried to suppress sign language.
0:38.5	Today on backstory, physical disability in America, from restrictive 19th century immigration
0:44.6	laws to the long fight for freedom.
0:47.0	There are many examples of slaves who could utilize disability, either genuine, fained or exaggerated,
0:54.5	to achieve their own ends.
0:56.5	Coming up on backstory, a history of Americans with disabilities.
1:01.5	Major funding for backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for
1:06.5	the Humanities, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis
1:11.8	Foundations.
1:13.8	From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, this is backstory with the American History
1:21.5	Guys.
1:25.0	Welcome to the show. I'm Brian Ballot, and I'm here with Ed Ayers.
1:28.5	Hello, Brian. And Peter O'Connor with us.
1:30.5	Hey, Brian. We're going to start today's show with the story of two sisters, Millian
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BackStory, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BackStory and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.