I will reiterate over and over again that chronically ill and disabled people have always existed. We have evidence Neanderthals took care of members of their community who became disabled after a serious injury or were born with disabilities like Down Syndrome. Yes, many more illnesses ‘just killed you’ before modern medicine but the lack of modern medicine meant there were even more people struggling with chronic ill health. Institutionalization and the stigma around discussing disabilities and illnesses is the reason you think there were fewer people with disabilities and chronic health concerns, not reality. Bad backs, bad lungs, bad stomachs, mobility issues, poor eyesight, poor hearing, countless other things that range from mild annoyances to serious life-limiting disabilities. We have always existed. Pretending like there was a time in history where a sizable portion of the human population wasn’t chronically ill or disabled is historical revisionism.
We should always be thinking “How do we make the world better for disabled people and how can we prevent acquired disabilities like post-viral chronic illness and lifelong injuries from things like motor vehicle accidents?” and not “How do we stop disabled people from surviving and existing in public?”
