[blindlaw] Link on Disab. Exhibits -- Smithsonian

Norman, Gary C. (CMS/OSORA) Gary.Norman at cms.hhs.gov
Thu Oct 24 19:08:51 UTC 2013


Visit The Online Exhibit -
http://everybody.si.edu/:

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a new on-line exhibit titled "Everybody: An Artifact History of Disability in America." People
with disabilities have been present throughout American history, but rarely appear in textbooks or shared public memories. Curator Katherine Ott introduces
a new online exhibition that helps us understand the American experience and reveals how complicated history really is.

"There are thousands upon thousands of such stories about people with disabilities that never make it into the history books. To broaden the familiar narratives
of American history and give presence to some of the "disappeared" in American history, we created an online exhibition about disability drawn from the
museum's collections. The online exhibition is at the center of the museum's work in unraveling the intricate ways in which stigma, rights, and everyday
realities intertwine.

The museum has dozens of photographic images of people with disabilities. We know neither the name nor circumstances of most of them. Being anonymous or
forgotten does not mean that you are invisible. We can piece together past experiences by combining what the image tells us (about age, clothing, location,
era, activity) with what we know about the history of disability in America. Such things as surfaced roads, escalators and elevators, the internet, as
well as the closing of asylums and even the availability of inexpensive eye-glasses and a host of medical treatments have created circumstances that enabled
political and social change. Our artifacts can explain events such as protests, hospitalization, first communion, and graduation and what they meant in
the lives of people. Artifacts give shape and substance to historical experiences in ways that retrieve stories of those who did not have the resources,
support, or power to leave a mark."

Katherine Ott is a curator in the Division of Medicine and Science.

Stacey H. E. Newton
IS Disabilty Employment Program Manager
Training & Development
International Services
USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service
4700 River Road, Unit 65
Riverdale, MD 20737
Telephone:  (301) 851-3777
FAX: (301) 734-7749
Email:
Stacey.Newton at aphis.usda.gov

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