Susan Schweik, The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public NYU Press, 2009
Barbara Ehrenreich, "Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?" New York Times
Download program audio (mp3, 47.53 Mbytes)
The so-called ugly laws banned people considered unsightly and disgusting from exposing themselves to public view. According to Susan Schweik, these city ordinances are loaded with significance, for what disability has meant and still does, for class antagonisms and political agency, and for how elites deal with those they despise and fear.

