I have chosen the essential question "How have humans been so inhumane to the disabled", based off my reading of "The Elephant Man". There are more than several instances in human history of when humans, yes us, have been inhumane to those who are disabled. We have done this in many ways, three of which I have researched. I have included the perspectives of literary, societal, and historical.

From the literary perspective of "The Elephant Man", John Merrick aka The Elephant Man was verbally abused and used in a freak show to be laughed at. The words gravitated towards The Elephant Man were nothing less than extremely harsh and unfair, being called a "bloody donkey" (Pomerance 11). These are very unfair, as Merrick has an actual condition that is out of his control. He is treated nothing more than an animal.

From a societal perspective, humans were inhumane to the disabled in the article "The Crisis of Disability Is Violence", by physically abusing disabled children. The Judge Rotenberg Center are contributing to the mistreatment of those who are disabled through their use of shockers and continuous physical abuse, as well as the underpayment when they do work, which is sadly protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The disabled are also mistreated through murder, more than often by their own parents, to "help the child". There is a negative societal strata that encompasses the disabled community, which makes them seem as burden and a deficit, or a defect from the human "norm".

In the article "What the Nazi "euthanasia program" can tell us about disability oppression" by Hugh Gallagher, a historical perspective shows how the Nazis in World War Two mistreated the disabled through their euthanasia project. They denied the disabled of their rights and even control over their own bodies. Doctors played God, determining who should live and who should die. Certain births would be sterilized if they were to have a high chance of birthing a person with a disability. Disabled were known as "flawed individuals" (Gallagher 2). They had a plan, and that was to exterminate all of the disabled, to keep Germany as a perfect and unflawed race.

There are definitely many aspects you can take on evaluating how humans have been so inhumane to the disabled. One thing they all have in common is how there is no true, plausible reasoning behind the actions taken place on the disabled people. They are mistreated by verbal abuse, physical abuse, and failed complete extermination.