Journalist – Historian – Speaker
A TN judge wants to sterilize prisoners. I wrote for @MarshallProj on the US history of eugenics and incarceration. https://t.co/7jL24hSvPk — David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) July 27, 2017 In my latest piece, I write for The Marshall Project about the history of incarceration and sterilization, of course just scratching the surface in the short commentary. Under …
I have a few requests ONE: I would like The Stone, the New York Times philosophy column, to sometimes publish philosophers who are disabled and write about the intersections of philosophy and disability rights from that perspective. At current time, they have published two essays on disability and philosophy, one advocating that perhaps developmentally disabled people who cannot …
I am giving a talk today at the Wisconsin Historical Museum. A few resources: My presentation A Google Cultural Institute introduction to the disability rights movement for which I was the lead writer. EUGENICS IN WISCONSIN Persons sterilized in Wisconsin from 1931-1933 (499 individuals. Author advocates continuing). By Frank C. Richmond, State Director of Psychiatric …
I’m always interested in tracking the ways that hatreds intersect and magnify. Here’s a classic one, still vibrantly alive among American racists. The New Yorker published a long article on the racists behind the mustard-based South Carolina BBQ sauce. The family that developed it has a long history of racism, and the man behind “Piggie Park” …
NOS Magazine published an anti-choice and a pro-choice piece, back to back, last week. The anti was written by Ivanova Smith and makes this argument: Even though some in the disability community don’t see this as a modern form of eugenics, I do. Eugenics is advocating for the death of those who are seen as a …
Adam Cohen is the author of Imbeciles, an recent, widely read, book on the history of eugenics in early 20th century America. It’s a solid book that about a history that isn’t well known, and I’m glad he wrote it (though I am not sanguine about the movie deal based on it, but that’s not …
Elizabeth Picciuto and I collaborated on a piece in the Los Angeles Times today on abortion and disability rights in the age of Zika. Two key paragraphs: We are parents of children with disabilities who are also pro-reproductive rights. David Perry’s 9-year-old son has Down syndrome. Elizabeth Picciuto’s 6-year-old son has Cri du Chat syndrome and …
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This Facebook post from Mosul Eye, a source that I’m told has some track record of reliability, shows a video of disabled children (just hanging out, really), then claims the following: Through monitoring and following the death incidents of children with Down’s Syndrome and congenital deformities, we were able to learn that the Shar’i Board …
UPDATE: I am leaving the essay below as is. I am increasingly persuaded by my smart interlocutors that the correct response to these kinds of essays is to offer empathy to the mother and to tell one’s own story as best one can in one’s own spaces. Thanks for all the feedback. Websites and newspapers …