University Healthcare Analysis: Disability Issues Response Paper

This report critically analyzes D.C. Baynton's article, "Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History." The student explores Baynton's argument that disability has been a factor in historical debates about citizenship, focusing on the rhetoric of monstrosity and the concept of normality. The report examines the author's challenges to assumptions regarding African American intelligence, drapetomania, and miscegenation, and how these views related to disability. It also touches upon women's suffrage and immigration constraints. The student reframes thoughts on disability by elaborating on the fact that individuals suffering from disability have long been denied their basic rights. The report concludes by emphasizing disability's role in cultural connotation and the need for further research on legislation and laws that have been enforced in recent years for the disabled people.

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Disability issues
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HEALTHCARE
Introduction
According to researchers, disability is generally defined as a form of impairment that
is typically developmental, cognitive, mental, intellectual, sensory, physical, or a combination
of the above. In addition, it has also been found that disability creates a substantial impact on
the life of the affected person, and can be present either from birth, or develop later on. In
other words, the term disability does not merely refer the presence of a health problem
(Goodley, 2016). It is typically defined as a multifaceted health phenomenon and reflects
interaction between the society and the body of a person. This essay will critically analyse an
article titled “Disability and the Justification of Inequality in American History”.
Author’s thesis
Baynton (2013) has elaborated on the fact that ever since the political and social
revolution that took place in the eighteenth century, the school of western political thought
started to display a trend of refusing to accept the presence of inequalities between groups
and/or persons. Although unequal and differential treatment has persisted, the presence of
disability has rarely been considered for making a historical exploration. Hence, the primary
objective of the author was to explore the history of inequality and justification, in relation to
the presence of disability issues, in the American society. The author also stated that
disability was considered as an important factor in three prodigious citizenship debates that
were related to namely, women’s suffrage, freedom and civil rights of the African American,
and limitation placed on immigration. Hence, the authors tried to investigate the concept of
disability in American history.
Main arguments
The principal argument put forth by the author was that the rhetoric of monstrosity
related to disability was by no means unusual to the traditional cause. In addition, the author

2HEALTHCARE
also stated that the concept of normality was complex, and focused on the etiology which in
turn comprised of statistical science, social sciences, and industrialization (Baynton, 2013).
This can be associated with the fact that normality has often been defined as a behaviour that
is considered normal for a person, while conforming to behaviour that is most common in the
behaviour (Gibson, 2016). Furthermore, the author also stated that most prevalent disability
argument for bondage and captivity was that African Americans lacked adequate intelligence
for competing or participating in the society, comparable to white Americans. The authors
also argued that owing to the presence of mental and physical weaknesses, African
Americans demonstrated an increased likelihood of becoming disabled.
Assumptions
The author was correct in challenging the assumption that intelligence of the African
Americans was considered impaired, which prevented them to live without restrictions on an
equal basis (Baynton, 2013). In addition, there also existed the belief that doctors commonly
warned that providing education to the African American often resulted in shortening their
existence and also brought about a destruction or dwarfing of their bodies (Davis, 2016). The
author also challenged the second line of argument that focused on the presence of
drapetomania. It has most commonly been hypothesised that drapetomania was the reason
behind the imprisoned Africans absconding captivity (Forret, 2015). Time and again it had
been considered by previous researchers that disability was related to the manifestation of
dysaesthesia aethiopica that was considered as a form of mental illness, which in turn was
related to urban violence among most African Americans, as a reaction to poverty,
oppression, and economic inequality (Diasporas, 2017). However, the author challenged the
aforementioned theory since the presence of dysaesthesia aethiopica was more prevalent
amid free Negroes who assembled themselves in clusters, in place of being slaves in different
plantations.

3HEALTHCARE
The author also elaborated on the fact that the conclusive disagreement for
miscegenation, or mixing of distinct racial groups being socially injurious or morally
incorrect can be accredited to the production of disability (Baynton, 2013). Previous theories
were related to the fact that the African Americans displayed differences in their physical
features such as, the presence of exaggerated lips, bowed or long legs, bad posture,
disturbingly big feet, and bulging eyes, missing teeth, and deformed bodies (Davis, 2016).
However, it was stated that presence of congenital leprosy was a major contributing factor to
such abnormalities in the characteristics. Furthermore, women suffrage formed an important
aspect of disability history in America since it focused on the right of females to vote in
elections, in relation to females who worked for political and economic social reforms and
equality (Streitmatter, 2018). It was also proposed by the authors that providing women the
authority to vote might threaten family institution and their highest duties must be focused on
responsibilities of motherhood, which resulted in suffrage opposition (Brown, 2017). It was
also postulated that advices for immigration constraint frequently highlighted the mediocre
appearance of settlers, thus leading to an overlap between disability and ethnicity that needs
to be resolved.
Thus, the author reframes my thoughts on disability by elaborating on the fact that
individuals suffering from disability have long been denied their basic rights, and efforts have
been recently taken by the government in prohibiting demonstration of discrimination
towards such people in the society. Hence, the arguments presented in the article helped in
illustrating that impairment in bodily function should be defined as defects, anomaly or
noteworthy deviation from the typically acknowledged population standards (Baynton, 2013).
Hence, application of the views presented in the article would facilitate complete integration
of the disabled individuals within the society and would promote the implementation of
social action for minimising the restrictions for disabled individuals. However, one major gap

4HEALTHCARE
lies in the fact that the authors did not elaborate much on the different legislation and laws
that have been enforced in recent years for the disabled people. Further research can be done
to determine the influence and benefits of such laws and rules.
Conclusion
To conclude, the author made the assumption that the concept of disability is
ubiquitously present in history, however it has not been documented well. Under
circumstances when the historians talked about disability issues, the condition was most
commonly treated in the form of an insult or a personal tragedy that was denied, rather than
being considered as a cultural construct that required exploration or investigation. Hence,
disability, should now be recognised as an important element in cultural connotation and is
crucial for any historian who wants to explore the past.

5HEALTHCARE
References
Baynton, D. C. (2013). Disability and the justification of inequality in American history. The
disability studies reader, 17(33), 57-5. Retrieved from https://www.uua.org/sites/live-
new.uua.org/files/documents/bayntondouglas/justification_inequality.pdf
Brown, M. J. (2017). Eradicating this Evil: Women in the American Anti-Lynching
Movement, 1892-1940. Routledge. Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!
etd.send_file?accession=osu1487949836205526&disposition=inline
Davis, L. J. (2016). The disability studies reader. Routledge. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315680668
Diasporas, I. M. (2017). Mad Is a Place; or, the Slave Ship Tows the Ship of Fools. American
Quarterly, 69(2), 303-308. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2017.0024
Forret, J. (2015). African American Slavery and Disability: Bodies, Property, and Power in
the Antebellum South, 1800-1860. The Journal of Southern History, 81(1), 180.
Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/openview/f8518000e4ebbe8282b66a17c57f5bac/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar&cbl=42222
Gibson, B. (2016). Disability/normality. In Rehabilitation(pp. 46-69). CRC Press. Retrieved
from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429158865/chapters/10.1201/
b19085-7
Goodley, D. (2016). Disability studies: An interdisciplinary introduction. Sage. Retrieved
from https://books.google.co.in/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=2zYEDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=disability&ots=zB64GYjZ
kk&sig=ioPmddTPQZE7oc1ZeXha2nJTZ1g#v=onepage&q=disability&f=false

6HEALTHCARE
Streitmatter, R. (2018). TURNING AMERICA AGAINST THE SINS OF SLAVERY.
In Mightier than the Sword (pp. 34-62). Routledge. Retrieved from
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429495014/chapters/10.4324/97804294950
14-5