Eliminating Shame: Intersections of Rights and Disability in American History

Popular exposure to perspectives and identities of disability in America is vital, revealing, and under-examined. This poster will illustrate and highlight perceptions of disability from Aristotle to Philo, through the Enlightenment-era theory of Tabula Rasa, the Puritan Divine Punishment Theory, and the Jeffersonian era theory of love, pity and secrecy, and will trace the tension between natural rights philosophy and the deep prejudice and abuse suffered by those with disabilities within societies which purported to embrace higher law. This poster will offer mixed medium assemblages, including fine art, political cartoons, primary source documents, charcoal drawings, and charts tracing and highlighting the authentic disabled experience through American history from the colonial era through the late twentieth century, introducing the origins of inclusion and the modern disability rights movement.