Faculty Publications

Disability, Eugenics And The Current Ideology Of Segregation: A Modern Moral Tale

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Disability and Society

Volume

13

Issue

1

First Page

95

Last Page

111

Abstract

Recently, an amalgamation of articles have appeared in a wide range of publications linking together community and school inclusion, and facilitated communication research as an unholy trinity of anti-empiricism eroding the disability fields. The authors of these critiques suggest that there exists a scientific basis for state institutions, segregated learning and a non-critical acceptance of traditional interpretations of expressive ability on the part of people with disabilities. In this article we expose not science, but an ideology of segregated control behind these claims. This ideology permeates the disability-related professions and is cloaked in the language of the natural sciences. We trace this use of the natural sciences to the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century and explore the legacy of the ideology of control as it impacts current understanding of disability.

Department

Department of Special Education

Original Publication Date

1-1-1998

DOI of published version

10.1080/09687599826939

Link to Full Text

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