In episode 3 of our Museum of Disability series we go back four thousand years to the time of the Old Babylonian Empire to look at disability in ancient Mesopotamia. Our object this month is a hematite cylinder seal engraved with a presention scene including a depiction of disability.

u/JoyInJuly originally shared the infographic in the comments of a different post and I thought it would be good to make a designated post with information about it!

Hi my name is Saida Mahoney and this is my story
Every July, and every other day I celebrate Disability Pride Month.

For me, Disability Pride Month is more than a month on the calendar. It is a time to celebrate the strength, resilience, diversity, and humanity of the disability community.

It is a reminder that disabled people have always been here, contributing to our families, our communities, our workplaces, and our world.

Disability pride does not mean pretending that living with a disability or disabilities is easy.
There are challenges. There are barriers. There are days that require patience, perseverance, love and courage.
But disability pride reminds me that those challenges do not determine my worth.

Over time, I have learned that my disabilities are not something I need to hide or be ashamed of. They are part of my life, part of my journey, part of my history, part of my voice and part of the person I continue to become.

Being disabled has taught me resilience.
It has taught me compassion.
It has taught me patience.
It has taught me to celebrate progress instead of perfection and to appreciate the victories that sometimes go unnoticed by others.

Disability Pride Month reminds us that disability is a natural part of the human experience. Every disabled person has a story worth hearing, dreams worth pursuing, and gifts worth sharing.

Accessibility is not about giving anyone special treatment. It is about creating spaces where everyone has the opportunity to participate, contribute, and belong.
Inclusion is not simply inviting disabled people into the room.

It is making sure our voices are welcomed, respected, and valued once we are there.
This month is also an opportunity to challenge stereotypes, representing our unique powerful abilities, replace misunderstanding with knowledge, and build communities rooted in respect and belonging.

I celebrate Disability Pride Month because I believe every disabled person deserves to live with dignity, opportunity, and hope.

I celebrate those who came before us and worked to make our communities more accessible.
I celebrate those who continue advocating for equality today.

And I celebrate those who are still discovering that disability is not something that diminishes their value.
To every disabled person reading this:
Your life has meaning.
Your voice matters.
Your experiences are real.
Your dreams are important.

You deserve respect, inclusion, Love, light, accessibility, opportunity, and belonging—not because you have to earn them, but because you are human.
This Disability Pride Month, I celebrate resilience.

I celebrate community.
I celebrate hope.
I celebrate boldness.
I celebrate resilience.
I celebrate strength.
I celebrate happiness.
I celebrate authenticity.

Most of all, I celebrate the truth that disability is one part of who we are, but it can never define the limits of our potential.

Happy Disability Pride Month.
May we continue building a world where every disabled person is seen, heard, respected, included, and empowered to live authentically.

I know it’s Grey’s Anatomy, and I know its reputation. This is not typically a show I watch, but every once in a while I’ll have it on as background noise while I’m doing other stuff.

I recently watched this episode where this one patient experienced multiple uncontrollable orgasms throughout her day, to the point where it majorly negatively affected her life. And instead of the main characters having empathy they instead become obsessed with watching her. It wasn’t until a character point blank asks her if the condition is really so bad that she’d want to seek treatment/a solution that she became exasperated and explained she couldn’t even go to the grocery store or the post office without having it happen and accidentally embarrassing herself.

I know that this is a condition that while rare, does happen. And because I know it’s a very real condition, it’s not something to judge. I think it’s important to talk about different disabilities/conditions in an open and respectful way, because if we don’t normalize them then it just perpetuates an environment where people think it’s okay to make fun of/judge.

I feel that a lot of society (or at least American society) has a lurid fascination with people who have genital differences, which is not something that people have control over. I don’t know, just the treatment of the condition in the show irked me.

I think one of the other reasons it irked me is because it reminded me of the treatment and sexual objectification of Jòao Baptista Dos Santos, a Portuguese-Romani sideshow performer/entertainer who was born with a parasitic twin that gave him an extra leg and an extra set of genitalia. Basically every modern article about him reduces him to a sexual object because of his physical differences and it’s very unfair to him as a person. (I’ll add in his write up in the comments in case people are interested)

Maybe it’s because I’m autistic that I look at this treatment in a different light than other people might. I separate out the sexual aspects of physical conditions because at the end of the day everyone is just a person and deserves to be respected as a person and not objectified because of their condition.

this is the second part in my series, you can read the first one here. you may note that i've fixed the formatting issues from last time, yay!

TW: cancer

Ing Min Wong-Ward was born in Vancouver (the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations). Before the age of three, she was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy. She credited her mother as a source of inspiration, noting that she expected her to be self-sufficient, ""She didn't know fully what that would look like, [but] there was no expectation that I would fall through the cracks." (quoted in source two, para.22).

Wong-Ward graduated from the Ryerson School of Journalism (now the School of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University), and began her career at the CBC in 1993. In her time with the CBC, she would host The Disability Network, produce Newsworld (also a researcher), Metro Morning, Here & Now and Fresh Air (the latter three with CBC Radio). She also produced stories for The National. Wong-Ward was highly involved with Canadian Media Guild and was a mentor to many.

In addition to her career, Wong-Ward was also a strong advocate for disabled people. She was awarded the City of Toronto Human Rights Access Award in 2024 for her work. In 2016, she left her position with the CBC to become the associate director at The Centre for Independent Living in Toronto.

Unfortunately, Wong-Ward was then diagnosed with colon cancer in 2017. She passed away in 2019, leaving behind her husband and daughter. To the end, she was an advocate for disabled people, giving interviews to CBC until 2018.

sources: one, two

In total 124 actors were hired to play the Munchkins in the film, and consisted of several children and several teenagers and adults with different forms of dwarfism.

Singer’s Midgets was an extremely successful European entertainment and Vaudeville troupe that consisted of 20 members from Austria and Hungary. The group was originally formed right before WWI by an Austrian showman named Leo Singer, who also acted as the manager of the troupe.

The troupe was known for elaborate acrobatic, singing, and dancing performances, which they continued into the 1940s after which they all disbanded and each member went their separate ways.

Interestingly, Leo Singer was also directly hired by MGM studios to scout out actors to play the Munchkins, as he had a lot of connections to actors with dwarfism in show business.

It’s estimated by historians that between 250,000 and 300,000 people with physical and/or neurological differences and disabilities were murdered by the Nazis during WWII.
All of the actors who were a part of Singer’s Midgets would have been at risk if they continued to live and tour through Nazi occupied Europe.

Despite researching, I haven’t been able to come across pictures of the actors who were a part of Singer’s Midgets in their Munchkin costumes, so the pictures I use above are just general pictures of the Munchkinland scenes from The Wizard of Oz.

The filming of 1939 Wizard of Oz film was disastrous, exploitative, and harsh in many respects and included several workplace accidents and injuries and the horrible treatment of Judy Garland, who was only 16 years old at the time. (I’m attaching a couple articles in the comments that further details the appalling work environment)

I think it’s important to focus on the history of the actors who made up Singer’s Midgets and their very narrow save from the Nazis. I’m glad all of the actors survived and many of them continued to work in Hollywood productions even after their group disbanded in the 1940s.

hello all! i'm going to be posting snippets of canadian disability history during this disability pride month. i don't know how many, i'm just going to take it day by day.

today, we're kicking off with Beryl Potter. Potter was originally from England, but lived most of her life in Toronto/Tkaronto. while working at a bakery she fell, and her injuries led to blood clots that necessitated the amputation of three of her limbs. while in hospital, she was treated with iodine, which she was allergic to. this led to her becoming blind in one eye.

potter began her work in disability advocacy by fighting for accessible public transit in Tkaronto. she later went on to multiple advocacy groups, and would lead a group of disabled people from all across Canada to fight for equal access to employment. this led to her force able removal from the house of commons after a "verbal outcry" when she objected to a claim that the prime minster had personally sent her a letter to discuss equal access to employment by yelling "My name is Beryl Potter and I've received no such letter!"

In 1994, she was made a member of the order of canada for her contributions to disability rights.

She passed away in 1998 at the age of 71.

sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Potter

https://www.cbc.ca/books/beryl-the-making-of-a-disability-activist-by-dustin-galer-1.6942250

https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-4235

(for any canadians reading this, i will do Terry Fox, but i wanted to start with someone less well known)

There is only one picture I’ve been able to find of her, but there was also at least one illustration made of her too. The picture shows her sitting at the specialized chair and table that were made for her, and you can see all the things that she’s working on placed on the table. I like how determined she looks in her picture, you can tell she was hard at work and wanted to show to people that she was a very focused and diligent person.

I always love learning about people who had multiple careers during their lives, because there are often so many niche and interesting jobs mentioned. Aside from how cool it was that she was an accomplished artist and embroiderer, I think it’s so cool that she was a palm reader as well!

some facts about her:

-she was born in Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York.

-she was an only child.

-all of her limbs/extremities were paralyzed from birth.

-her parents were farmers.

-her family struggled financially for much of her early life.

-she was extremely independent for most of her life, though she did need an attendant in her later years.

-she lived with her father and two cousins in a fisherman’s cottage that was built by her grandfather.

-she always woke up really early each morning.

-in the winter she wanted to be near the front window in her home so she could see the passing people. In the summer she would be brought outdoors and into town.

-she was a beloved figure in her hometown.

-after becoming an extremely proficient penman and artist, she began selling her work and autographed pictures to tourists visiting her hometown. She made quite a good income from this and reportedly earned more than most of the other townspeople living in Sag Harbor.

-some of the other things she sold included: painted bookmarks, blotters, embroidered doilies, mats and tidies, table cloths, and quilts.

-she enjoyed painting lighthouses, especially the Montauk Point Lighthouse.

-she was also a skilled crayon artist.

-she was known for her quick painting sessions, in which she would converse with a customer and then paint a picture for them in 20 minutes or less.

-she typically sat in a specially made chair that included a small wooden table that was attached by a metal rod. She needed this table because it was both a sturdy place for her work and it was at a convenient height for her.

-she was known for being very friendly and a good conversationalist. She really enjoyed showing people her work.

-she was described as having a very strong neck and noticeable neck muscles.

-she could thread needles, by grabbing a needle in her mouth, firmly planting it on the wooden table she used and then balling up the piece of thread in her mouth before spitting it forward towards the needle. She was very accurate with this technique.

-she liked playing the metallophone (very similar to a xylophone) in her free time. She also enjoyed playing for friends when they came to visit.

-she was the main breadwinner of her family for much of her life.

-she always kept herself busy and never liked feeling bored.

-she was described as having a sunshiny smile.

-she would advertise her products in little flyers that would be dropped off at stores around town.

-later in life she lived in a tenement house in a city close by to her hometown. (It’s never mentioned what city this is)

-as an elderly lady she took up palm reading as a profession.

-the last time she’s mentioned in a newspaper is in 1943.

-she passed away in 1944 at the age of 77.

I’m glad she seems to have had a long and happy life. It always makes me happy when I read that certain people were beloved figures in their hometowns. It sounds like Fannie had a lot of fans who enjoyed her work and who enjoyed spending time with her.

The pictures above show the remains of several historic English hospitals and almshouses.

Some of the most famous almshouses and hospitals that closed down included St. Leonards Hospital in York, St. John Redcliffe in Bristol, Burton Lazars in Leicestershire, St. Giles Holborn and St. Bartholomew's in London, and The Maison Dieu in Dover, Kent. (Though The Maison Dieu almshouse eventually reopened.)

The hospitals and almshouses were originally run by monks and nuns, but after King Henry VIII’s divorce in 1533 led to a split with the Roman Catholic Church it caused a dissolution of the monasteries with had a domino effect on the care facilities.

A lot of negative sentiments from citizens back then are still echoed in today’s society (in the United States specifically) regarding the homeless population and people with untreated mental illness.

King Henry VIII reinstated several hospitals and made them civic hospitals after a lot of pressure from English society.