October 10, 2002
Directory of Organizations — Page 8
Inside ■ Work Incentives— p. 3 ■ Superman Walks— p. 4 ■ Fall At Interact— p. 10
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“Peace is a natural effect of trade.” — de Montesquieu
Non-profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Mpls. MN Permit No. 4766
Volume 13, Number 10
SOURCES
RESOURCES
October 10, 2002
TODAY’S GENETIC TESTING: A MODERN EUGENICS? by Rebekah Orr
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or those who thought the practice of eugenics was ancient history, Ed Larson, J.D., Ph.D., is here to tell you that history may well be repeating itself. Larson, a Talmadge Professor of Law and Russell Professor of history at the University of
Georgia, addressed a large group of scientists, students, community members, and disability rights activists at the University of Minnesota on September 17. Larson’s talk was part of the Lunch Series on the Societal Implications of the Life Sciences
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cosponsored by the University’s Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment, and the Life Sciences and The Joint Degree Program in Law, Health, and the Life Sciences. Larson’s presentation described the modern practice of genetic testing in the context of the eugenics movement of the early 20th century, and its implications for society. Eugenics is the practice of eliminating heritable human disabilities through selective breeding. The movement began in England in the late 1800s under the direction of Francis Galton and was brought to the United States by scientist Charles Daven-
port and H.H. Goddard, a psychologist. Eugenics took on two forms: positive eugenics and negative eugenics. The former encouraged the procreation of individuals with desired heritable traits. The latter discouraged the procreation of disabled individuals, or those with undesirable heritable traits. Eugenicists targeted those people who had inheritable forms of retardation, mental illness, and physical deformity along with those who exhibited undesirable social behavior that was thought to be heritable, including crime, prostitution, and alcoholism. History The most notorious programs
stemming from the eugenics movement were the segregation and compulsory sterilization of those that society deemed unfit to reproduce. During the 1920s, all 48 states had laws that built and maintained institutions to segregate people with disabilities, and 32 states enacted compulsory sterilization laws. Ultimately, over 60,000 people in the United States were forcibly sterilized beneath these laws.
mote selective breeding are of greater importance to modern society.
Aside from the public policies that institutionalized eugenics, the movement also fostered a public education campaign aimed at coercing the public to voluntarily practice eugenics. These more subtle efforts to pro-
The film encouraged couples to be tested for disabilities before they married and began having children. Inspired by a Chicago physician who euthanized “defective” newborns, the film used Eugenics - cont. on p. 14
Eugenics was taught in high school biology classes, written about in popular magazines, promoted through traveling exhibits, and discussed in the movies. The most notable example of eugenics propaganda was a full-length feature film from the early 1900s entitled “Are You Fit to Marry?”
Tricomo’s Candidacy Statement munity. Here is his statement, reproduced as received:
We would like to acknowledge the GENEROUS donations of the Leadership Circle. Participants: Advocating Change Together Minnesota Governor’s Council on DD Remembering with Dignity University of Minnesota ICI Accommodating Care Inc. Metropolitan Center for Independent Living Handi Medical Supply Equity Services of St. Paul Vinland National Center Please consider joining The Leadership Circle Call Tim at 651-644-2133
My dear relatives,
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n the September issue, we printed statements from the four Minnesota candidates for Senate. As that issue went to press, the Green Party replaced Ed McGaa with Ray Tricomo (after the primary). In the interest of fairness, we presented Candidate Tricomo with the same opportunity to speak to the disability com-
One of the great tradgeties, which will be our society’s undoing, provided we don’t surgically do away with, is the habit of labeling people. In doing so, they become stigmatized & limated. A society such as ours—which has always been in the fast lane—has fallen into the habit of marginalizing a whole range of people from the overweight to people in wheel chairs. As a result of spoken & unspoken bigotry, we cannot begin to calculate the damage, the loss of productivity, & the loss of
possibility for the evolution of all of us. There are those few who have been mislabeled “disabled” who have achieved monumentally, & we all know who we are. I am a student & advocate of indigenous teachings. One of the things I learned many years ago was that, in healthy tribal cultures, blind people are not only not babysat, but more is also required of them. For example, the best drum maker or tracker in the village may be a blind person. My relatives, I’m saying all of that to say this: it ought to be the goal of every disabled person in society to be an integral part of society. As a blind person, I am more than a little troubled by the
prospect of a kind of “dissability’s ghetto” or the use of such terms as “dissability’s culture.” Over 20 years ago, I broke with an acquaintance of mine over this very issue. As citizens of society, we must not trap ourselves in a one-issue lifetime. We must be renaissance women & men. Of course I support the ADA & other measures designed to make life possible for everyone with their respective disabilities. But let us look to the day when we won’t have to deal with labels or the discrimination those labels make possible. Yours in the struggle, Brother Ray Tricomo