Full
disclosure: I have never liked Halloween.
When I was in second grade, I went through a "haunted house"
at my elementary school and, while I don't remember the specifics, I remember coming
out crying. The same year, I went
trick-or-treating with my family and was extremely frightened by the "big
boys" from the back of the bus who wore extremely realistic and gorey
masks. I hated it all so much, I decided
not to celebrate Halloween the following year.
I had an on-again-off-again relationship with Halloween for a while -- I
honestly just hate being scared. I
cannot, for the life of me, understand the enjoyment most people seem to derive
from that experience.
That
said, I have a problem with the way we celebrate and sensationalize Halloween
in this country. If people want to be
scared, I see no problem with monsters and ghosts, skeletons, spiders, and even
a little gore. I don't have an issue with
scary stories, coffins, mummies, or costumes.
If you're into freaking yourself and others out, you go for it. Seriously.
If that's your thing, more power to you.
I'll be home with a cup of tea, watching something that makes me laugh.
My
concern is that Halloween has a distinctly, powerfully, ableist side. Halloween is not, at its core, an ableist
holiday, of course, but there are many, many issues with Halloween today that
are inherently ableist...and these issues go completely unacknowledged. In fact, if I bring up these issues, I'm
essentially told that I'm "overthinking" it, or that I just need to
lighten up and have fun. "It's
harmless," they say.
From Pinterest |
Let's
break this down.
Ableism,
for those unfamiliar with the term, is the discrimination and marginalization
of people with disabilities. This
includes physical disabilities (e.g. cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy,
multiple sclerosis), developmental disabilities (e.g. autism, Down Syndrome,
intellectual disabilities), and also mental illness and psychiatric
disabilities (e.g. bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, addiction). Our language is riddled with words that are
or were once pejorative and hurtful. For
example: idiot, imbecile, and moron were once the categorization levels for
intellectual disability (what we now know as mild, moderate, and severe
intellectual disabilities). Similarly,
retard (or anything ending in -tard), simpleton, stupid, derp, and cretin all
refer to people with intellectual disabilities.
Lame, spaz, crippled/crip are referencing people with physical disabilities. Crazy, insane, loony, maniac, mad, mental,
head case, psycho, and wacko all stem from words or phrases used to refer to
people with mental illness or psychiatric disabilities.
We
don't hear about violence against people with disabilities much in the news....but
it happens. A lot. You can read my post (and lots of links)
about two such (older) incidents here and here.
People aren't talking about ableism the way they talk about racism, and
sexism, and homophobia...but it's just as real, and it's hurting valuable and
important people in our society. How
good can a society be that marginalizes, mistreats, and devalues some of its
most vulnerable and amazing citizens?
From Ebay |
Halloween
is a time for scary things. It's a time
for supernatural, paranormal creatures and, apparently, a time for ableism to
run rampant. Think about it: how many
costumes for "crazy" or "insane" or "mad"
people/things do you see? Let's think
about costumes of straightjackets. Mental
patients. Mad scientists. Psychos.
The
thing that really gets me, though, is the "haunted asylums."
Pennhurst
Asylum in Pennsylvania (I will not link to the website, because I find the
video that plays both infuriating and upsetting) is touted as one of "America's
scariest attractions," and there are several other such attractions across
the US. In fact, I think the "asylum" idea can probably be found in multiple haunted houses/haunted attractions: one need only Google
"Halloween asylum" to find a link to a website selling products
entirely for creating your own haunted asylum (HauntedAsylum.com: Demented
Products for Demented Minds), Halloween asylum party ideas on Pinterest, and an
entire page of items to purchase from Party City (including handcuffs, and
pictures which read "no one gets out!" in red
"blood").
Here's
the thing, though. When we talk about
skeletons, and coffins, and zombies and monsters and ghosts, no matter how
gorey and gross and bloody and violent they get, they are pretend. They aren't real. There are not real people behind those
stories, not real faces, and real lives that we are exploiting for
"entertainment."
Props you can buy from Party City for your very own "asylum" |
For those who live near me, "Pennhurst
Asylum" in Pennsylvania is not so very far from home. Per its website, Pennhurst was a "state
school" that was closed in 1986 due to repeated allegations of abuse. Apparently, upon release from the
institution, a former resident filed a complaint that the conditions were
unsanitary, inhumane, dangerous, and that the staff used cruel and unusual
punishments. After investigation, the
site was deemed dangerous due to the physical and mental abuse, inadequate
care, and the fact that the patients' wellbeing had deteriorated while in the
care of staff at Pennhurst.
And this shit was happening all across the country. In my lifetime, this sort of shit was
happening. We're talking about electric shock therapy. Surgery without anesthesia. Restraints.
Isolation. This is an actual
excerpt from the website, which details their excitement about finding the
remains of this institution and turning it into a haunted attraction:
"We have really strived to mix fact with fiction, folklore with fear, to come up with some of our unique room designs. There have been accounts of an old dentist chair that was located in the deep recesses of Mayflower, one of the more notorious dorms at Pennhurst. This chair is a little different than the ones you and I are used too; it has restraining straps attached to the arms, legs and headrest. This chair was reportedly used to remove the teeth of patients that were prone to biting the staff here. Imagine yourself being strapped into this device and having all your teeth ripped out without any kind of medication. This is just one more example of how unique this location is."
Can I remind you that we are talking about real
people...and real lives...and real pain that is now being sensationalized and
marketed as an attraction? Can I remind
you that the people who lived at Pennhurst, or any number of other institutions
-- they may still be alive and working to live lives in the community after
living for 5, or 25, or 40 years in this environment? What must it be like for them -- or for their
families -- to see their lives, their histories exploited in this way?
I get really worked up about this issue. This topic can make me angry to the point of
tears, and here's why: I have worked with people who lived in these
institutions. In graduate school, I had
a side job conducting assessments for each resident's
yearly habilitation plan at
one of the remaining "institutions."
I have read their stories. I have
seen their faces. I have seen the
neglect they withstood, and I have seen the incredible loss and burden they
carry with them. I have seen what people
look like after receiving no intervention, too much medication, no
socialization, and little engagement for decades. If you haven't seen what this looks like, if
you haven't heard these stories, there is no way you can possibly imagine
it. I carry these people and these
stories with me in my heart.
From Pinterest |
What a privilege it is to be able to erase and
sensationalize an entire population's recent history. What privilege is afforded to us that we are
able to ignore the very real and very human pain behind this entertainment, and
believe that we can enjoy it as an evening of innocent fun. What privilege we must have to be able to bypass
this dark chapter of our past without a thought as to who we may be hurting.
And yet...people say, "it's harmless." People say it's no big deal. People say it's just scary fun, and all in
the name of Halloween.
But it's not. This
is violence. Dressing up in a
straightjacket, sexy or not, is colluding with history in a way that
perpetuates the fear of disability.
Making asylum decorations from Pinterest may seem fun and harmless, but
what are you really saying? Are you,
unintentionally, perpetuating the stigma of disability and/or mental illness as
something scary, or "freaky," or dangerous?
So here's what I ask of you this Halloween: just pay
attention. How many times do you see the
word crazy or insane? Ask yourself if
the activity you are participating in could potentially be shaming, or
othering, or aggressive towards another group.
People with disabilities deserve to be heard, and seen,
and respected as whole beings with inherent worth and dignity. By using stereotypes about them as costume
fodder, and by twisting some of their history into frightening holiday
entertainment, we are denying their wholeness, worth, and humanity.
Quite frankly, we just have to do better.
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