Disability History - Tumblr Posts
I did my thesis on eugenics and forced sterilization in Canadian history (indigenous specific) and the next cis woman to say that men should collectively be forced to get vasectomies for points on some kind imaginary scoreboard of rights is getting sent a copy of the records I had to sift thru of men, mostly indigenous, racialized, developmentally disabled, or poor men, being sterilized against their wills and often without their knowledge.
Song of the day
"Talking Wheelchair Blues" written by Fred Small 1983, performed by Peggy Seeger 1992
Orinally written and performed by Fred Small, "Talking Wheelchair Blues" is incredibly important as a song for the emerging disability rights movement. I'ts funny, charming, clever, and well written. this song is very special to me as it is one of the shockingly few songs that advocate for disability rights, and it's covered by one of my favorite artists of all time, Peggy Seeger, who does a wonderful rendition of it.
"See, we're all the same, this human race.
Some of us are called disabled. And the rest--
Well, the rest of you are just temporarily able-bodied"
Hi! Your "talking about wheelchair blues" post made me curious if you know any disabled folk singers?
Yea, there are actually tons!
in the early blues, there were many blind artists.
Blind Blake (1896-1934) Blind Willie Johnson (1897-1945) Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893-1929) Blind Willie McTell (1898-1959) Bo Carter (1893-1964) Sleepy John Estes (1899-1977) Blind Boy Fuller (1907-1941) Cortelia Clark (1906-1969) Rev. Gary Davis (1896-1972) Roosevelt Graves (1909-1962) Sonny Terry (1911-1986)
there's also cisco houston, whose eyesight was so poor that it rendered him legally blind by the end of his life.
and then, of course, there was woody guthrie who suffered from Huntingtons disease.
A LOT of traditional folk singers were disabled but that fact about them was not mentioned or only mentioned as an afterthought, or it isn't considered a disability. it would be very hard to compile all of these people.
and, as classic artists like pete and peggy got and get older, they both talked more about disability rights and how they affect them, peggy seeger is 89 currently and still making music. both she and Pete have either performed songs like disability in solidarity with disabled people or made music about how being disabled relates to them.
THEN, there's the Disabled In Action (DIA) singers. much like the Freedom Singers of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Disabled in Action singers were a musical group that made and covered songs that were about disability rights and disability made upof members with from the DIA organization. the DIA is a grassroots civil rights organization focused on ending discrimination against Disabled people, founded in 1970, in NYC.
the folks of the Disabled in Action Singers were not very well known, and the only one who was, was Sis Cunningham, who joined the group in her eighties.
luckily for us ! they have all their recordings available on their website.
here's some fun live performances i found as well of songs either by the DIA singers or by other people about disability
There is definitely more and I'll reblog this whenever I find more disabled folk artists. if anyone knows any contemporary disabled folk artists feel free to reblog this as well. I know that people in the folk-punk scene have been making music about disability.
(Early 19th Century Self-Portrait Image Source: Sarah Biffin | Art UK)
Sarah Biffin (1784-1850): The Artist Who Painted With Her Mouth
Full entry here. Patreon here. Books here – yes, the second book is out!.
And if you’re around HeroesCon in North Carolina this weekend, I’ll be there at Artist Alley table AA-1924! Come say hi!
Art notes after the cut.
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Every person need to be taught disability history
Not the “oh Einstein was probably autistic” or the sanitized Helen Keller story. but this history disabled people have made and has been made for us.
Teach them about Carrie Buck, who was sterilized against her will, sued in 1927, and lost because “Three generations of imbeciles [were] enough.” (A decision which still has not been reversed)
Teach them about Judith Heumann and her associates, who in 1977, held the longest sit in a government building for the enactment of 504 protection passed three years earlier.
Teach them about all the Baby Does, newborns in 1980s who were born disabled and who doctors and parents left to die without treatment, who’s deaths lead to the passing of The Baby Doe amendment to the child abuse law in 1984.
Teach them about the deaf students at Gallaudet University, a liberal arts school for the deaf, who in 1988, protested the appointment of yet another hearing president and successfully elected I. King Jordan as their first deaf president.
Teach them about Jim Sinclair, who at the 1993 international Autism Conference stood and said “don’t mourn for us. We are alive. We are real. And we’re here waiting for you.”
Teach about the disability activists who laid down in front of buses for accessible transit in 1978, crawled up the steps of congress in 1990 for the ADA, and fight against police brutality, poverty, restricted access to medical care, and abuse today.
Teach about us.