Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: Studies of the disability category in American public policy have focused on its use in economic, social, and civil rights policy.This study continues that tradition by reporting on the development of disability-based disenfranchisement in Massachusetts.The authors examine the establishment of the guardianship exclusion in Massachusetts suffrage law, originally adopted in 1821.The authors argue that it was first conceived largely as an economic exclusion intended to disenfranchise those who were not competent to manage their financial affairs, an exclusion that was conceptually consistent with the propertyowning and taxpaying qualifications of earlier periods.In 1853, when the guardianship exclusion was again discussed in a constitutional convention, the same provision came to be understood as an exclusion based on the moral and intellectual incompetence of individuals who were called "idiots" and "insane" persons.An analysis of the events surrounding this transformation in justification of the disenfranchising provisions suggests a complex interrelationship between disability, dependency, and deviancy in the development of American political thought about the qualifications for participation in electoral politics.The implications of this history for contemporary disability policy, particularly the protection of voting rights for people with cognitive and emotional impairments, are also discussed.
Authors: Kay Fletcher Schriner, Lisa A. Ochs
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1963086062