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Disabled in the United States: From Segregation to Integration

Myles Tufts
Southern New Hampshire University

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From watching the documentary, Lost in Laconia, I learned a lot about why our world
treats disabled individuals who way they do. The main factors seem to range from societal, to
familial, to political issues that need to be addressed if we are to make progress in the treatment
of underprivileged people. Although I feel we've made some progress, we still have a ways to go,
and I hope that documentaries such as this one will help people become aware of our glaring
faults in our systems of care.
During the turn of the century, more and more people left their families and entered the
country. Since many no longer had their community to care for them, there needed to be places
to help the poor and disabled. However, the government didnt want these facilities to be too
nice, as they claimed it would encourage laziness(Dubois, 2013). Graham Warder, professor at
Keene State College, spoke of the almshouses as a place of 'last refuge'. These were places where
'all types of dependent people ended up'(Dubois, 2013). Lilian Streeter, chairwoman of the New
Hampshire State Board of Facilities and Correction, summed them up eloquently by saying, "At
that time in New Hampshire, all the wreckage of humanity was herded together in the
almshouses, with only a very small percentage of the respectable and infirm poor included. There
were found the diseased, the insane, the imbecile, the epileptic and the criminal; no classification
was maintained and often no separation of the sexes, and with them all were living the innocent,
helpless children and the adolescent girls and boys, many of whom has been born, and has
always lived at the almshouse(Dubois, 2013). Some of the saddest parts of this film were
listening to the testimonies of former residents, who claim to such atrocities as being separated
from their families, and herded into the facilities like cattle(Dubois, 2013).

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In the early 1900s, it was made clear to the public that if you were poor and disabled, this
was your own fault, and something which you needed to fix(Dubois, 2013). As we look at the
battles over minimum wage, unemployment, and the growing divide between the rich and the
poor, it seems we have not learned much, if anything, from our mistakes of the past. If the rich
want to get richer, it simply follows that they cannot have sympathy for the poor-if they did, it
would force them to potentially lose some of their own wealth. Instead, they must-and they dotreat the poor and disabled as irresponsible members of society, and point the blame at their lack
of work ethic. If we keep perpetuating these stereotypes, such as the "lazy African-American
and the retard, then it makes it easier for the wealthy to build their wealth, simply claiming that
they are working harder to gain it.
In the video, we hear how many taxpayers argued against their money being spent on
institutional care(Dubois, 2013). It naturally follows that without the proper funding, the care
will be lacking in quality. A friend of mine is currently dealing with these issues head-on, as she
looks for the proper facility to place her autistic son, Eric. As he just turned 21, she wants him to
learn to be independent. This desire, however, is discouraged daily, when she visits many of
these homes, only to find that the children are sat in front of the television all day, or in their
rooms staring at the wall. After years of dealing with this, she is almost forced to surrender to
this sad system, yet one day hopes to start a place of her own, where people will truly care for
these individuals.
In conclusion, I think the New Hampshire Federation of Women's Clubs say it best, when
they said to the government, As a simple act of justice, is it right for the state, the guardian and
protector of all its citizens its children to discriminate holy in favor of those who are well-

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endowed, and cast off those, who through no fault of theirs, are lacking in mental
equipment?(Dubois, 2013). We have a long way to go before the system is fixed, but to do this,
we must start with how we look at our fellow human. If we see them as lesser than us, than all of
our negative treatment will be justified, yet if we see them as equal, as our brothers and sisters,
then we will be driven to help them as we would our own family.

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Reference

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Dubois, Gordon. (2013). Lost in Laconia[Video File]. Retrieved on December 03, 2014, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UesOm2HTm2I

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