Citizens of the World?

For many living abroad is a must on their bucket list - but is this dream accessible?

Mel Kennedy

We like to think that our society has become more inclusive, and in many ways it has. We are told we have equal opportunities - the world is our oyster in this age of inclusivity!

So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that potential citizenship in other countries is a door closed in the face of many disabled people in the countries we uphold as the most inclusive and progressive - Australia, Canada, the United States, all ‘forward-thinking’ nations who are turning away disabled people because of the potential cost to their healthcare systems.

There are plenty of stories out there.

Families being forced to decline life changing opportunities because one child is denied a visa on the grounds of disability, disabled people on temporary visas threatened with deportation or even deported. The list goes on.

We are equal, until we aren’t.

The word thrown around is ‘burden’. We’re a ‘burden’ to the healthcare system, a ‘burden’ to the government. You have no idea how many times people have said the word to me when talking about disabled people and then look ashamed, remembering that I am part of that ‘burden’ on the state.

Our lives are not worth more or less than yours.

But where do these ideas stem from? Where did exclusive immigration rules develop their foundations?

Evolution and eugenics.

Early eugenics theory was inspired by Darwin’s theory of evolution; the notion of the ‘fit’ being the most desirable to reproduce and the ‘unfit’ being the least. In 1871, Darwin himself discussed in The Descent of Man the propagation of disabled people or ‘the weak members of society’.

In 1883 Francis Galton, a relative of Darwin’s, coined the term eugenics after devoting his life studies to the ‘improvement’ of mankind. Basing his research on the traits of plants and animals that Darwin had described, Galton believed that the mental and physical traits of a human were directly inherited from their parents.

Galton developed the idea that marriage between ‘healthy’ families should be encouraged as early as possible and encouraged by incentives. The reproduction by those he identified as weak should be prevented, and it was these theories in his 1869 book, Hereditary Genius, which began a dangerous and inhumane process in both the U.S and Britain, spreading to other nations.

Eugenics was categorised into two distinct groups, ‘positive’, which focused on enhancing reproduction between ‘fit’ individuals and ‘negative’, which focused on reducing reproduction between the people society found undesirable. They were further broken down into passive eugenics, the control or coercion of reproduction and active eugenics which used methods such as sterilisation, prohibited marriage and murder (Withers, 2012:14).

They wanted a ‘healthy’ society, a society purged of ‘impurities’. Sound familiar? It should.

Countries only want the ‘best people’, the fittest and strongest. Many visas require medical exams to prove how ‘fit’ and ‘suitable’ you are before you can be approved. Our bodies should not be excluded on the basis of cost, our bodies should not be politicised.

When you set off into the world, remember the people who had that door closed in their faces many years ago because of something that wasn’t their fault. Our society has become more inclusive - but only if you stay in the box society has assigned you to.

References:

DARWIN, C. (1871). The descent of man: and selection in relation to sex. London, J.

GALTON, F. (1869). Hereditary genius: an inquiry into its laws and consequences. London, Macmillan.

Withers, A.J., (2012). Disability Politics and Theory. Halifax and Winnipeg. Fernwood Publishing