When People Challenged People In The 1900's

Think about your life and how great it is, you aren’t in a wheelchair, your brain functions correctly, and you have friends, but some people go through that struggle and it makes their life difficult. Through the 1900s-1950s people with disabilities weren’t treated very well, they didn’t get medicine or any professional help through their life. In 1907 the Eugenic Sterilization Law was passed and it was for people who were disabled. People thought they could catch whatever they had and they didn’t want to be thrown into an asylum just like everyone else. Science wasn’t as strong back then as it is today, so many believed that they were a threat to the health of the nation or even “perfecting” the human race in general.
SEGREGATION OF PEOPLE IN THE 1900S
For most of the 20th century it was very common for people with disabilities to be separated from the rest of society. A lot of disabled people were put into institutions for their “own good and societies good.” In 1913 the Mental Incapacity act was put into place to “help” people who lack mental capacity. This act locked people away and they were no longer free. Most people who lived in hospitals, special schools and care homes were abused and had physical
abuse. These people were called the second class people and no one respected them. Everyone else was included in the first class and they had respect unlike everyone else.
Imagine you are a war hero and you got your leg shot off, you become disabled and people don’t look at you as a hero, anymore. Now, you would think a war hero would have the most respect out of everyone, but if they were disabled they didn’t get any respect either. They were treated just like every other disabled person out there. No one cared what you did, regardless if you lost a leg or you just didn’t act like everyone else. Most of these people couldn’t work either, their disabilities held them back and most people didn’t employ them. As a result they were put into asylums, were treated poorly, and not human like at all. In 1935 there was a signing of the Social Security Act, it was a program to assist adults with disabilities. This Act gave people benefits and jobs so they weren’t rotting in a hospital doing nothing with their lives and being abused.
HOW THEY WOULD BE TREATED TODAY
Let’s take someone like Lennie, he does things and thinks they are correct, but in reality they are wrong.
If this happened in the world today, he would most likely be put into an asylum or at least getting some kind of help. People get put into asylums because people think they are insane. These kind of people think they can see things, or they think killing people is right. Lennie likes to touch soft things, like most people, but at a certain point it goes too far and you need to stop. However when someone tells Lennie to stop, he freaks out and grips more. This is a serious problem, and even though it is only a book, you never know what can happen. He killed a person, and snapped her neck because he was scared and he also doesn’t know his own
strength.
However, this isn’t only the first time something crazy like this has happened. Candy doesn’t have a hand so he can’t really work; he feeds the chickens and that’s all he really does. Candy is also old which doesn’t help, but thanks to the Act in 1935, people with disabilities were allowed to work. Although they still weren’t treated correctly, they at least got to do something with their life instead of being useless since no one would give them a chance. In today’s world, Candy would most likely have a prosthetic so he would be able to work and be a lot more useful than he is right now.
In Of Mice and Men, Candy had a dog, he was very old like Candy and he had a broken leg. He could still function, but it was sad to watch. The dog would walk around and look extremely sad or in pain, he couldn’t get his leg fixed or in a cast, or even medicine to help. Candy had money, but who knows how much money medicine or any casts would be. Candy’s dog would have a cast or even surgery so his leg would be fixed, but at this point since Candy’s dog is so old he would be put down which is sad. In the movie and book Candy’s dog gets put out of his misery and technically he was correct to do this since the dog was clearly suffering.
WORKING WITH DISABILITIES
Due to Lennie's actions, him and George have had to get another job somewhere that’s not in Weed. Lennie touched a woman’s dress because it was soft and then when she told him to stop he freaked out and wouldn’t let go. Lennie doesn’t know right from wrong, which is why he typically grips onto things more. Lennie also doesn’t know his own strength, in chapter 3 in “Of Mice and Men’ Lennie throws curley and crushes his hand. “Curley's fist was swinging when Lennie reached for it. The next minute Curley was flopping like a fish on a line, and his closed fist was lost in Lennie’s big hand,”(Steinbeck, Chapter 3 page 30, paragraph 14). Lennie ended up crushing Curley’s hand and it was bleeding. Lennie is also very lost which is why George always helps him; before Lennie hurt Curley he kept asking George what to do, George told him to let him have it.
There are mental and physical disabilities, if you have either of them, you know it makes your life a lot more complicated. As we see in the story, Lennie has a mental disability and we know how that works out for him, but their are other mental disabilities like dyslexia. If people with dyslexia were to work in say a food place or even a factory, they wouldn’t do so well. One they would need to follow a recipe for food and people wouldn’t trust them because they were limited to ingredients. If you worked in a factory you would need to know how to make whatever it is you work in, most people would need to take a test to see, but words get mixed up in your head and you get confused. You could need to make 25, but then you see 52, that would be a waste of material, once again messing up the process.
Candy has a no hand, so it makes it difficult for him to work, he feeds the chickens, since you only really need one to sprinkle food. Although that is physical, there can be other physical disabilities that don’t help with your life. If you are in a wheelchair, life sure isn’t the best, you need more space, it’s hard to go places, and difficult to do tasks. You can even have back pain or leg pain and your life would be hard. Most of the tasks that need to be done during this time, aquire you to be able to move and read and function without anything holding you back. Sadly for disabled people, their life was complicated and most couldn’t work. Luckily the act put into place in 1935 helped them out at least a bit, and allowed them to work; the ones that could of course.