Franklin D. Roosevelt - Looking Fear in the Face

This post was a massive endeavor, which I knew going in and why it's taken me two months to write. There was so much about Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life and career that I simply had to leave out. That includes photographs, too! Franklin is one of the most well-known visibly disabled men in recent history. He became the first - and only, to date - disabled man elected to the US Presidency. Not only that, he's the longest-serving President: elected to four terms and served the last twelve years of his life. Because of this, and his many Great Depression- and World War II-era policies, Franklin is a controversial President, to say the least. This post's focus is not about whether he was a "good" or "bad" President, but about his life prior to and then dealing with significant physical disability in adulthood.  He chose to publicly display a persona of "overcoming" his disability, while the reality was that it was with him every moment, influencing his every thought and movement.

 

Franklin, 1932 - age 50

Lazarus, Laloo, and Lillie - Historical Parasitic Twins

Today's post is another compilation, this time focusing on the phenomenon of parasitic twins (more on that below). Because this is so rare, there is not much research even today focusing on it. In history, there are a few cases that are well-known: Lazarus Colloredo, Laloo Ramparsad, and Lillie "Betty Lou" Williams. These people not only survived childhood but all went on to be famous as performers. They all appear to have died relatively young, in their 20s or 30s. Similar to other sideshow performers I've written about, these three people survived and made money in the only way that was deemed "acceptable" (and I use that very loosely) for them. Their stories span centuries and continents, connected by a rare physical difference and the determination to survive in a world that was disgusted by them.

 

A parasitic twin (also called "asymmetrical conjoined twin" or "vestigial twin") is a very rare type of conjoined twin, accounting for 10% of all conjoined twins. One fetus does not develop completely - essentially dying in the womb - and remains attached to the other fetus. The baby ("dominant twin") is born with limbs, organs, and other structures from the twin still attached. Because this happens so early in embryonic development, the structures can be unrecognizable as to what they are. The dominant twin is at high risk for medical complications and, in modern times, the parasitic twin is surgically removed.

Benjamin & Sarah Lay - Mr. and Mrs. Quaker Comet

In the future, if I am ever asked about "historical figures you'd love to meet," I will most definitely put Benjamin Lay on the list. He has been described as "a troublemaker at every moment of his life." He was one of the earliest Quakers to oppose slavery and did so with a militant zeal that few can emulate. He and his wife, Sarah, both were Quaker ministers with dwarfism. Originally this post was only about Benjamin, as it is very difficult to find information about Sarah, but I did my best to include her here as well. They were a fascinating couple who were key in advancing the cause of abolition in the first half of the eighteenth century.

Portrait of Benjamin, 1750s

 

Dr. Sylvia Walker - A Guiding Light

 Disability history would be incomplete without delving into academia and policy development. These figures are often unknown by name, though their work permeates through every corner of society. Today's post is about Dr. Sylvia Walker, an extremely accomplished researcher and policy advocate. She was influential in forming the Americans with Disabilities Act and advised President Clinton on employment policies. She used her delightful blend of intelligence and humor to change the lives of people of color with disabilities.

 

Sylvia, undated

Harriet Tubman - An Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove

After many posts where there is an extreme lack of information, this one was a change of pace! The problem was now too much information to sift through. Harriet Tubman does have entire books written about her and you could certainly teach a course just focused on her. I tried to write as comprehensive of a post as I could about her without making it ridiculously long. Harriet is one of the most well-known Black American historical figures, and for good reason. Though she died 110 years ago, her story of fortitude in extreme circumstances will long outlast even those who are reading this now.

Harriet, 1895

Ella Harper & Myrtle Corbin - More Than a Curiosity

One challenge I have faced is that many stories, especially those of people who were exhibited in sideshows, just do not have that much information available. I still want to tell these stories, not to show off the so-called "freaks" and "oddities," but to demonstrate how life was like for anyone who was physically or mentally atypical. If you were born outside the norm in the 1800s and 1900s, it was extremely likely that at least some of your life would be spent making money (maybe) as an exhibit. I have decided to share some of these stories in combined posts called "More Than a Curiosity." I chose this title because, even today, many of these people are shown in listicles or videos as the subjects of shock, disgust, or "wtf?" They deserve better than that. Today's subjects, Ella Harper and Myrtle Corbin, lived at around the same time and were both born in Tennessee. Interestingly, both spent their teenage years successfully performing before retiring to quiet lives with their families (though Myrtle did perform during her 40s). They married, had children, and made their homes. They experienced all of the joys and sorrows of simply being human.

Ella Harper & Myrtle Corbin

Kitty O'Neil - No Fear

I am someone who self-describes as "risk-averse." Today's post is about a woman who is absolutely the opposite of that. Kitty O'Neil, raised by her widowed Cherokee mother and deafened as a baby, was a highly ambitious and extremely talented athlete, driver, and stuntwoman. She achieved over twenty world records in spite of ableism, racism, and sexism. Kitty was adored by all who knew her. Many commented on her warm, sunny demeanor and admired all that she had accomplished. Kitty was, for lack of a more philosophical assessment, simply incredible.

Kitty, late 1970s

Millie-Christine McKoy - A Soul with Two Thoughts

Writing this post reminded me of how wild history can really be - many times I thought that these situations sound like a movie script. Millie and Christine McKoy, conjoined twins from the same state in which Chang and Eng Bunker lived most of their lives, are not as well-known as they should be. (A chronic theme in these posts, huh?) Their early years were filled with danger: enslavement, multiple kidnappings, custody suits, and international travel to entertain royalty. Through it all, these women obtained an education and became talented performers. They eventually bought the very plantation on which they were born and provided a large home for their relatives. They were able to obtain a measure of independence and autonomy that most women, especially Black women with disabilities, did not have in the Victorian era.

Millie & Christine, 1870

Brad Lomax - A Bridge

I admit that, though I have been involved in the disability community for my entire life, I have only recently gained any knowledge of the disability activists of the past several decades. It is because of them that my sister is able to access buildings in her community, obtain an education, and more. Many of these activists are not well-known, especially ones of color. Brad Lomax is considered one of the founders of the intersectional activism that combined the resources of the civil rights movement with the disability movement's fortitude.

Brad at a rally, 1977

Charles Proteus Steinmetz - Wizard of Schenectady

There are names that are well-known in the world of inventors and science, such as Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla. One of their contemporaries was just as influential, if not more, though his is not a household name. It is because of him, Charles Steinmetz, that we have the electrical advances of the last century. He, known as the "Wizard of Schenectady," the "Modern Jove," and "The Thunderer," who called himself a "queer, gnome-like figure," was the father of electrical engineering.

Charles as an adult

Chang & Eng Bunker - The Siamese Twins

This post travels back to the age of "freak shows." Fair warning, this will be a running theme in this blog. It is a tragic but important part of disability and physical differences in the not-too-distant past. Honestly, an entire blog could be devoted to the individuals who performed in these shows (there's one I found that gave me many post ideas: The Human Marvels). This story is of a famous set of twins who have an incredibly unique story that involves race, fame, ability, marriage, children, and slavery in the American South. They are the origin of the term "Siamese twins."

Chang & Eng as adults

Elizabeth Jefferson - A Mystery

The title for this post says it all: this colonial woman was, indeed, a mystery. She is most often listed as an interesting factoid about her very famous brother, a la "Wow, did you know Thomas Jefferson had a disabled sister? Anyway..." Finding information on her was difficult but worth the work. Sadly, I could find no paintings or words of hers, so we do not know what she looked like or her own perceptions. She is only a snapshot of being disabled in colonial America, but I hope you enjoy her story.

Shadwell Plantation House

Allen Jay - The Peacemaker

In my regular life, I am a speech-language pathologist. Though I work in Early Intervention, meaning I help toddlers learn to talk, this career involves many areas. This includes voice, fluency (stuttering), feeding and swallowing, speech sounds, social skills, cognitive skills, and even more. In my job, I have had one client so far who had a repaired cleft palate. Luckily, my school had a specific class focused on just cleft lip and palate management and rehabilitation. Like most of medicine, this area has come a long way in just the last few decades. Comparing my client's experience in 2017 to my uncle's experience in the 1950s is completely different, much less looking back at the 1800s. I came across Allen Jay's story as a child in a picture book (Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad, 1993) and it has stuck with me ever since.

Allen, 1910

 

Thomas Wiggins - An Enslaved Prodigy

This is a post I have been putting off writing for two reasons. First, it hurts my heart. I am a helper, a nurturer, an empath. Knowing this man's story and how he was exploited for his entire life is difficult to sit with. Second, it opens the floodgates. Many of the stories of disability in the nineteenth century take place in "freak shows" and on vaudeville circuits. There are many of these on my post ideas list. This was merely the first.

However, we can't sugarcoat the past. These people truly lived and their stories deserve to be told in their entirety. Yes, Thomas Wiggins was an incredibly talented musician and yes, he and his family was taken advantage of through the system of slavery, institutional racism, and abusing the legal system. All of the aspects of his story are important and I hope you enjoy learning more about "Blind Tom."

Tom as an adult

Anne Sullivan - The Fire of a Purpose

Thanks to the fame of Helen Keller (who will be her own post at some point, worry not), many people also know the name of her teacher, Annie Sullivan.  The teleplay The Miracle Worker about their relationship was performed in 1957 and converted to a Broadway production just two years later. It was made into a film in 1962, followed by made-for-television movies in 1979 and 2000. All this to say, Anne is decently well-known. Because of her fame, I wanted to do a deep-dive into her life. The most challenging part of writing this, though, was not getting too caught up in Helen's story. Anne lived her own story in her own right and I want to honor that.

Anne, 1894

Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly - A Most Remarkable Lawyer

Here's a sneak peek into my research process: I usually get a handle on the basics of the person's life story through Wikipedia, then go to Google for the detailed information and primary sources (meaning accounts written about them during their lifetime). This post did not go that way. The Wikipedia article is very short and poorly researched, and unfortunately I could not find many articles online that provided more information. Luckily, they did cite a couple primary sources, so I got to spend time going through old newspapers and census records, which I actually find quite fun!

Roger, 1927

Ed Roberts - Be an Artichoke

One of the biggest observations I have made while writing for this blog is, "Boy, it's so different having disabilities today than it was then!" This is not due to chance; this is a consequence of intensive work of disability rights activists and families who fought for decades. My sister was born the year after the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed: her life has been made immeasurably better because of hundreds of activists that my family has never met. Today, I am honoring the work of just one of these crusaders. Though he passed away the day after my sister's fourth birthday, I hope he knows how grateful we are for him.

Ed in the l970s

Eliza Suggs - Shadow and Sunshine

One of the things I love most about history is that there is always more to learn, you just may have to dive a little deeper. Sometimes it takes multiple tries at certain phrasings on Google to find the stories you've never heard. Last night I was up trying to find stories of Black historical figures with disabilities, as I realized the only person I could think of was Harriet Tubman, who endured a traumatic brain injury as a child and suffered the consequences for the rest of her life (don't worry, she will absolutely be a topic in the future). Luckily, I was able to find more figures than only her and have added quite a few people to my list of future posts. Today we will learn the story of a young woman who, despite her race, gender, and physical limitations, became educated and had a career as a traveling lecturer.

Eliza, 1892

Alice Cogswell - Beginnings of a Language

My main goal for this blog is to tell stories that many may not know. In their own communities, these individuals are famous, but are not well-known beyond this. I decided to look up important figures in the history of deaf education in America and, lo and behold, I found a great story I hadn't heard before.

A quick note in terminology: capital-d "Deaf" refers to the culture and community of deaf (lower-case-d refers to the physical hearing impairment) people around the world. They use sign language and have a rich heritage, history, and literature. They may not be united by blood or geography, but they are joined together by their shared languages and experiences. Many in the Deaf community do not feel that they are disabled and have protested that the use of cochlear implants are creating a slow genocide of the Deaf culture. They argue that there is nothing about them to "cure." Because of this, most Deaf people prefer the medical terms "deaf" or "hard of hearing" instead of "hearing impaired" or "disabled." The worst of the enmity against cochlear implants has died down since they were first given FDA approval in 1984, however it is still an important issue to many in the Deaf community. Click here for an article that talks more about the cochlear implant debate from the Deaf perspective.

My bias as a speech-language pathologist (and not a member of the Deaf community) is that cochlear implants are an amazing technology that can provide access to sound for tens of thousands every year. I still find this debate interesting and learned about it many times during my schooling, even writing a paper on it in an undergrad history class. Deaf people have accomplished amazing things over the centuries and continue to - this should be celebrated and taught. One mother of a child who uses cochlear implants wrote an excellent article in 2014 articulating her conflict of helping her child medically while still giving him access to his Deaf community.

Back to our story today. The pioneer of Deaf education in America was Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. He, Laurent Clerc, and Dr. Mason Cogswell founded the first permanent institution for the education of the deaf in North America in 1817: "Connecticut Asylum (at Hartford) for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons" (now known as the American School for the Deaf). Gallaudet's inspiration for this school is credited to his neighbor, Alice Cogswell. She is our focus for this post.

Engraving of Alice from 1889

Mary Ingalls - Seeing with Words

Mary, 1889

Outside of my personal life, my first experience with disability was in books. The most defining series of my childhood was the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My mother had her own precious copies from 1971 while mine were published in 1994.

Though I, like so many little girls, identified with the spunky and bold Laura, many of my traits really matched that of her older sister, Mary. Mary was quiet, obedient, and responsible. She was her mother's right-hand while managing frequent moves and adventurous little sisters. Her life, and that of her family's, changed drastically when she became ill at fourteen years old. From this point onward, the Little House series takes a turn: Laura's childhood abruptly ends and the family's moves become more focused on finding stability and security for their now-disabled oldest daughter. 

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder is a topic about which I could speak for hours. I have many books both by and about her. I have visited the Little House sites in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Missouri. As a young teenager, I cried in reverence at Rocky Ridge Farm, where the real Wilder wrote the series that so influenced my life. And, while I technically appreciate the revived interest that the Little House on the Prairie TV series (1974-1983) sparked, I will rant about the endless historical inaccuracies. I've never actually made it through a full episode, though I have tried.

Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls, 1974 publicity photo

This post is about Wilder's older sister, Mary Ingalls - the real one, not the one who slowly went blind, married the also-blind Adam Kendall, started a blind school, had a miscarriage, got depressed, had another baby who died in a fire at said blind school, got depressed again, then moved to New York with her husband, who had miraculously recovered his sight and become a lawyer. Man, that TV series was wild.