Incredible Spirit

Somewhat vague, if you’re seeking cold, hard facts that are necessarily part of mainstream history.

However, this texts speaks to the truth about American history and the spirit providing impetus for our civil rights.

It is a fast and inspiring read

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Vital reading for teaching or learning intersectionality

The author effortlessly weaves in and out of various areas of the minority experience tethering it to the experience of disability to illustrate intersectionality in a way that makes this vital reading.

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Wide swath of US Disability History

The author pieces together well many pieces of individual experiences and landmark decisions of those with disabilities. Though difficult to cover such a vast topic, it was shared in an interesting and thorough way.

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A valuable history textbook

I tend to prefer more concept or narrative, driven books, and while this text contains elements of both, it is primarily a history textbook. It contains an element of that dry name and date-based style that turns a lot of people off of history early in their education. It’s a good book, it just wasn’t what I was looking for precisely at the time.

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Previously Unknown Stories

This excellent book tells stories I’ve never heard regarding the struggles of others with disabilities in our American past.
From 1970 to date, I participated in some of the protest events and legislative activities mentioned. My knowledge of events before that time was limited. It is definitely a “must-read” for those experiencing disabilities and those in the field serving them.

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A must read for any intersectional activist.

An excellent summary of the history of disability in the US, with strong ties to racism, sexism, and discrimination against the lower class, veterans, and LGBTQIA+.

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A Story Needed to be Told

I was not a fan of the narrator's voice but I found the book to be full of valuable information. The evolution of how disability has been defined and how that changed the way people with disabilities have been treated was enlightening.

There is more work to be done to ensure that all people with disabilities are treated as full human beings deserving of equal access and rights.

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Incredibly interesting and well told

Very interesting chronicle of our nation’s history relating to persons with disabilities. I highly recommend this book.

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Good read!

Excellent read and good history review. Enjoyed personal and caring description of each person in the story, The history of how they treatment

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Good overview

Having never read an overview of the history of disability in the U.S., I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. However, knowing that this book was only 241 pages, I could have surmised it would be a somewhat cursory account. And indeed, it was. But I don’t think that’s a damning description. Rather, the author provides enough detail, including naming some key resources, to engender interest and encourage a deeper dive into one or more of the areas she touches on in this volume. Her main areas of focus are Indigenous populations, the colonial periods (1492-1700 & 1700-1776), early United States 1776-1865, 1865-1890, the Progressive Era 1890-1927, 1927-1968, and 1986 to date of publication (2012). Her coverage of Indigenous attitudes was informed by Native experts, but was sketchy nonetheless, probably due to a dearth of original source material. Throughout, much of what she reported was via anecdotes about persons with disabilities, real or perceived. As she noted, which people were considered disabled varied by time period, and included a wide variety of populations we might not consider as such nowadays: women generally and at times those desiring higher education (!), drunkards, prostitutes, all slaves (or later, Blacks generally), masturbators, criminals, the chronically poor, non-heterosexuals, and many more. At various times, many individuals with physical or other disabilities who were employed were not treated as disabled, and many persons with physical and mental impairments escaped public notice due to class distinctions, i.e., individual or family wealth insulated them from external judgement or ill treatment. Given the incorporation of so many people into the category of those considered disabled, the author touches on an extraordinary span of society: union members, servicemen and veterans, victims of manufacturing mishaps, the deaf & blind, societal misfits, single mothers (moral turpitude), people from disfavored races, the mentally ill, those born with birth defects, short people, etc. Discrimination was rampant, and was socially accepted if often governmentally condoned or mandated. Nielsen spends some time on the sordid but once widespread business of eugenics that resulted in the forced sterilization of thousands. She notes how American practices of attempting to eliminate undesirable people from the nation’s gene pool were admired by others overseas, included Germany prior to and during WWII. (Yes, Nazis looked to the U.S. for inspiration when they started euthanizing children with disabilities.) In my opinion, the book lacks a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the nation’s sometimes despicable treatment of persons with disabilities, or even time period analyses, especially given how attitudes changed over the decades. With the surfeit of available information about postwar disability advocacy, her coverage of the modern era was especially lacking. All of that said, I repeat that this overview is a good place to start for anyone interested in learning about the history of disability in the U.S. It should whet the appetite of readers and identify many areas for greater investigation.

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