By: Brooke Blaney

Eugenics is a dark spot in our nation’s history that is often forgotten but has not entirely disappeared. Eugenicist beliefs continue to invade discussions of disability and current law still permits some genetic cleansing.[1]

Eugenics is the belief that some people are genetically inferior to others, and that threats to the gene pool need to be eliminated.[2] “Inferior” people, seen as less than human by eugenicists, include women, people of color, immigrants, non-Christians, people with disabilities, etc.[3] Although explicit supremacist beliefs are now condemned, it is still commonly believed that people with disabilities are genetically inferior, need to be fixed, and/or should not be born.[4]

United States eugenics policies began to actively try to eliminate “inferior people” in 1895.[5] State and federal supported supremist efforts included laws against “unfit” people marrying and having children, forcibly institutionalizing “threats” to the gene pool until they passed reproductive years (usually women), and eventually sterilizing all “unfit” people.[6] Buck v. Bell, the notorious Supreme Court case that paved the way for the sterilization of thousands of people, condoned this practice when the majority said, “it is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.”[7] The definition of “unfit” varied, but was broad enough to include anyone, although primarily women, based on education, intelligence, ability, race, social class, addiction, sexual activity, etc.[8] These laws and beliefs largely influenced the rise of the Nazi party in Germany.[9]

While these extremist beliefs are no longer considered acceptable by the general public, eugenic theories, particularly those regarding disabilities, persist in more subtle ways.[10] For example, states are still permitted to allow genetically selective abortions when people do not want children with disabilities and other “undesirable” traits.[11]

Autistic people[12] often experience discrimination even by some of those who are well-intentioned. In 1993, the movement towards acceptance began, emphasizing that parents do not “lose” their children to autism and autistic people do not need to be grieved or othered.[13] Almost 30 years later, many neurotypical people still belittle and dehumanize autistic people.

Many of those involved in autism awareness, instead of providing acceptance, are misguided into believing they are helping when they support the dehumanization and elimination of autistic people.[14] It is commonly believed within the autistic community that Autism Speaks is a prevalent example of a false ally organization.[15] Autism Speaks is a charitable organization with widespread support claiming to help autistic people, but autistic people and allies who listen to them argue that it is closer to a hate group.[16] Autism Speaks consistently promotes the ideas that autism is a flaw, is evil and harms others, and is a “missing puzzle piece”.[17] Autism Speaks sympathizes with disappointed parents of children with autism and does little to support autistic people themselves.[18] Autism Speaks also recently partnered with Google to research a cure for autism.[19] This sparked outrage among the autistic community and was immediately likened to Nazi policy.[20] “Curing” genetic variations, although not actively harming living autistic people, promotes the eugenic ideas of genetic inferiority and gene pool cleansing.[21]

Autism is not a disease or medical condition; it is a cognitive difference that is part of normal variations of human behavior.[22] Society itself, favoring neurotypical people, creates the disability.[23] Treating autistic people as if they are at fault for barriers they may face, such as job instability, inadequate education, questionable medical treatment, and social exclusion,  is unproductive and offensive.[24] Providing greater access to resources for autistic people to easier navigate society, condemning eugenics rhetoric, and promoting acceptance and awareness rejects eugenics and supports allyship. This support is necessary to finally end legal eugenics in the United States. Establishing new laws, of course, is also necessary. Laws banning eugenics motivated abortions and restricting research for “cures” for autism, and other disabilities caused by society, would be the most effective. Ideally, the Supreme Court could also rule on eugenics practices as violations of Constitutional rights.

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[1] See Sonia M. Suter, A Brave New World of Designer Babies?, 22 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 897, 944-45 (2007) (analyzing the history of eugenics in action through genetic cleansing, the attempt to limit the reproduction of undesirable people in the population).

[2] See Terry Gross & Adam Cohen, The Supreme Court Ruling That Led to 70,000 Forced Sterilizations, National Public Radio (2016) https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-70-000-forced-sterilizations (last visited April 21, 2021) (mentioning Connecticut state law against “unfit” people marrying).

[3] Terry Gross & Adam Cohen, The Supreme Court Ruling That Led to 70,000 Forced Sterilizations, National Public Radio (2016) https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/07/469478098/the-supreme-court-ruling-that-led-to-70-000-forced-sterilizations (last visited April 21, 2021).

[4] Gross & Cohen, supra note 3.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.; see also Julia Carmel, “Noting About Us Without Us”: 16 Moments in the Fight for Disability Rights, New York Times (July 22, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/ada-disabilities-act-history.html (citing Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927)).

[7] See Buck, 274 U.S. at 208; see also Gross & Cohen, supra note 3.

[8] See Sonia M. Suter, A Brave New World of Designer Babies?, 22 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 897, 944-45 (2007); Shankar Vedantam et. al., Emma, Carrie, Vivian: How A Family Became A Test Case For Forced Sterilizations, National Public Radio (2018) https://www.npr.org/2018/04/23/604926914/emma-carrie-vivian-how-a-family-became-a-test-case-for-forced-sterilizations (last visited April 21, 2021); see also Buck, 274 U.S. at 206-08; Julia Carmel, “Noting About Us Without Us”: 16 Moments in the Fight for Disability Rights, New York Times (July 22, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/ada-disabilities-act-history.html.

[9] Gross & Cohen, supra note 3; see also Caroline Tien, Autism Speaks Partnering with Google to “Cure” Autism Sparks Backlash, Newsweek (March 31, 2021), https://www.newsweek.com/autism-speaks-partnering-google-cure-autism-sparks-backlash-1580272.

[10] Julia Carmel, “Noting About Us Without Us”: 16 Moments in the Fight for Disability Rights, New York Times (July 22, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/ada-disabilities-act-history.html; Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis Region, Inc. v. Parson, 389 F.Supp.3d 631 (W.D. Mo. 2019); Graddy v. Secretary of Health and Human Services,  2017 WL 11286536 (Fed.Cl. 2017); Emily Willingham, Why Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak for Me, Forbes (November 13, 2013), https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/11/13/why-autism-speaks-doesnt-speak-for-me/?sh=45a54f2d3152; Caroline Tien, Autism Speaks Partnering with Google to “Cure” Autism Sparks Backlash, Newsweek (March 31, 2021), https://www.newsweek.com/autism-speaks-partnering-google-cure-autism-sparks-backlash-1580272.

[11] Planned Parenthood, 389 F.Supp.3d 631.

[12] See Lydia Brown, Identity-First Language, Autistic Self Advocacy Network (August 4, 2011), https://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/identity-first-language/ (identifying as an autistic person, rather than using person-first language as a person with autism, signifies that autism is an inherent part of identity and not a disease or something negative than can or should be separated from the individual).

[13] Julia Carmel, “Noting About Us Without Us”: 16 Moments in the Fight for Disability Rights, New York Times (July 22, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/ada-disabilities-act-history.html (citing a speech given by Jim Sinclair, one of the founders of Autism Network International, at the International Conference on Autism in Toronto).

[14] Caroline Tien, Autism Speaks Partnering with Google to “Cure” Autism Sparks Backlash, Newsweek (March 31, 2021), https://www.newsweek.com/autism-speaks-partnering-google-cure-autism-sparks-backlash-1580272; Graddy, 2017 WL 11286536.

[15] Emily Willingham, Why Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak for Me, Forbes (November 13, 2013), https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/11/13/why-autism-speaks-doesnt-speak-for-me/?sh=45a54f2d3152; Caroline Tien, Autism Speaks Partnering with Google to “Cure” Autism Sparks Backlash, Newsweek (March 31, 2021), https://www.newsweek.com/autism-speaks-partnering-google-cure-autism-sparks-backlash-1580272.

[16] Caroline Tien, Autism Speaks Partnering with Google to “Cure” Autism Sparks Backlash, Newsweek (March 31, 2021), https://www.newsweek.com/autism-speaks-partnering-google-cure-autism-sparks-backlash-1580272; Emily Willingham, Why Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak for Me, Forbes (November 13, 2013), https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/11/13/why-autism-speaks-doesnt-speak-for-me/?sh=45a54f2d3152.

[17] See Emily Willingham, Why Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak for Me, Forbes (November 13, 2013), https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/11/13/why-autism-speaks-doesnt-speak-for-me/?sh=45a54f2d3152; Caroline Tien, Autism Speaks Partnering with Google to “Cure” Autism Sparks Backlash, Newsweek (March 31, 2021), https://www.newsweek.com/autism-speaks-partnering-google-cure-autism-sparks-backlash-1580272 (symbolizing autism with a puzzle piece, as Autism Speaks does, enforces the idea that autistic people lack something mentally that neurotypical people have, implying they are defective or incomplete).

[18] Emily Willingham, Why Autism Speaks Doesn’t Speak for Me, Forbes (November 13, 2013), https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/11/13/why-autism-speaks-doesnt-speak-for-me/?sh=45a54f2d3152.

[19] Caroline Tien, Autism Speaks Partnering with Google to “Cure” Autism Sparks Backlash, Newsweek (March 31, 2021), https://www.newsweek.com/autism-speaks-partnering-google-cure-autism-sparks-backlash-1580272.

[20] Tien, supra note 17.

[21] Tien, supra note 17.

[22] Julia Carmel, “Noting About Us Without Us”: 16 Moments in the Fight for Disability Rights, New York Times (July 22, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/ada-disabilities-act-history.html; see also Tien, supra note 17.

[23] Tien, supra note 17.

[24] Tien, supra note 17; Julia Carmel, “Noting About Us Without Us”: 16 Moments in the Fight for Disability Rights, New York Times (July 22, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/ada-disabilities-act-history.html.