Comment: Comparative Observations on Disability in History

CATHERINE KUDLICK

BY INTRODUCING US TO would-be immigrants like Sophie Fuko, Israel Bosak, Donabet Mousekian, and even the zealous commissioner on Ellis Island, William Williams, Douglas Baynton has offered a revolutionary perspective on the thoroughly-studied topic of immigration. Both in his paper and in his thought-provoking essay, "Disability as Justification for Inequality in American History," Baynton pushes us to understand disability as a category of analysis on a par with race, class, sexuality, gender, and ethnicity. Even his title, "Defectives in the Land," which plays off that of John Higham's classic study, drives home Baynton's point that "disability is everywhere in history, once you begin looking for it, but conspicuously absent in the histories we write." Modestly, Baynton has told compelling stories that only hint at the broader intellectual and cultural ideas he has developed elsewhere. Therefore, in a brief space here, I would like to draw out the revolutionary implications of his work, while offering a few shamelessly essentialist comparative observations based on the field I know best, French history.