Eugenics, Genetics, and Disability in Historical and Contemporary Perspective: Implications for the Social Work Profession

This book focuses on the conceptual relationship between the American eugenic movement of the early 1900s and contemporary genetic research, policy, and practices, and the relevance of this for social work and related professions. While the expansion of prenatal testing and other genetic innovations are often couched as a form of “new eugenics,” this description is only partially correct. The work also provides the first in-depth exploration of the relationship between the emerging social work profession and the eugenic movement during the first quarter of the 20th century, and considers the historical importance of this for the profession today. Social workers played a particularly important role in the movement of eugenic policies from targeting persons with disabilities to limiting procreation among “welfare” recipients, especially minority women. As the profession attempts to come to terms with this problematic history, it also needs to understand the dual “faces” it displays to persons with disabilities—as purported supporters of such persons whose continued embrace of the medical model of disabilities keeps them from being accepted by many as true allies in the fight for social justice related to disability inclusion.