Trick or Ableism?! The Commercialization of Disability Oppression During Halloween
Written by Dr. Priya Lalvani
As we approach Halloween, it is likely that people are getting ready to partake in its festivities or observe it as a spiritual holiday. As always, many will celebrate by wearing costumes or going trick or treating. Some will decorate their homes with spooky props, attend Halloween-themed parties, or visit “haunted” venues to experience the thrill of a scare. Although I personally do not enjoy the latter, I understand it is an aspect of this holiday that many do, and acknowledge that for some groups, Halloween rituals have spiritual significance. These days, however, I find myself increasingly alarmed by the extent to which certain Halloween activities have become entangled with disability and are ableist in nature. Ableism refers to a set of negative beliefs and practices that devalue or discriminate against disabled people. So, what does disability or ableism have to do with Halloween? Let’s consider some ways in which they intersect.
Physical disability as Halloween costume
Think about how many times you have seen trick- or- treaters with costumes or masks depicting physical disabilities or bodily differences--burn scars, facial deformities, missing limbs, crutches, or other support devices. Today, many people are aware that wearing the traditional attire of ethnic or cultural groups as Halloween costumes is problematic as it fetishizes, appropriates, and positions those cultures as exotic. However, there are fewer conversations about costumes that depict or satirize people with physical disabilities. Consider how these costumes can reinforce stereotypical ideas or fear among children of people with facial and bodily differences.
Mental illness as Halloween costume and props
It is also not uncommon during Halloween to see people outfitted as “mad” or “insane” people, or “mental asylum inmates.” A Google search for costumes within this theme yields multiple sites with merchandise including straightjackets, lobotomy stitches, and shackles. You can choose from an array of “psychiatric patient” or “lobotomy victim” costumes online or at party supplies stores. Those seeking decorations for a haunted asylum-themed party will not be disappointed; there are various “demented” mannequins, as well as “shackled insane inmate” and “escaped insane inmate” mannequins. To complete your purchase, you can find signage pointing to the “shock therapy room” and various lobotomy and restraint props. Problematic language like deranged, unhinged and criminally insane are used to advertise these items.
Although surely unintentional, this associates mental illness with fear, and reproduces the stigmas that already exist in society. The language of “criminally insane’ conflates psychiatric disabilities with violence, feeding into misconceptions about an entire group of people as dangerous. This issue is not exclusive to Halloween; popular culture and news media are filled with tropes about mentally disabled people as dangerous— raging monsters and menaces to society. These are reinforced during Halloween and can construct in a child’s mind an image of what people with psychiatric disabilities look and act like.
Visiting “haunted asylums” as Halloween merriment
Let me make a distinction here between haunted houses and haunted asylums. Haunted house tours are common activities at this time of year, and I see no problem with it. But, in recent years, visiting "haunted asylums" (set up on properties that were formerly used to institutionalize disabled people) have become increasingly popular, as are asylum-themed parties.
What are asylums? What is their place in history?
Beginning in the mid-1800s and continuing for over a century, people with disabilities, including infants and children, were isolated from society and placed in asylums, which were later branded as institutions. These spaces were characterized by inhumane conditions, gross neglect, and eugenics-driven practices. Individuals housed here were subjected to unspeakable abuses including medical experimentation, shocks, or starvation, and often existed in filth or lived in metal cages. Despite these conditions, many medical and mental health professionals endorsed the institutionalization of children with disabilities, justifying it as being in the best interests of the family.
In the latter part of the 20th century, these facilities began to be shut down. Some, all across the country, have been repurposed into year-round sites for tourism and offer “haunted asylum” attractions during Halloween. This fuels an industry that profits based off a historical dehumanizing of mentally and physically disabled people.
What “attractions” can we expect at a haunted asylum visit?
An online search for the best haunted asylums in the area will lead to many results, notably these two: Pennhurst Asylum, located outside of Philadelphia and Brighton Asylum in Passaic, NJ.
Pennhurst was a state-funded institution for intellectually and developmentally disabled individuals who were deemed unfit for citizenship. Here, inmates – including children--spent their lives locked away, sometimes chained to their beds, receiving no care or attention. A Halloween visit to Pennhurst’s allegedly haunted grounds offers a variety of “attractions that will push you to the limits of your sanity.” You can select a tour of the abandoned rooms where people were once shackled or tortured, view body parts and blood stains exhibited in the Morgue, or explore the underground tunnels. Although the props are fake, they aim to re-create the actual activities that occurred here on real people, some of whom are still alive today.
The infamous Brighton asylum in NJ eventually shut down in 1952 after reports of staff and patient disappearances, and the intolerable and horrifying conditions. Now, it is open for tours. Visitors are invited to explore its chambers – including the “elaborate quarters” where staff once worked, slept, and experimented on inmates – spaces that were dubbed (with good reason) “the bleeding grounds.” Indeed, the website claims, “here, you have nothing to lose, but your mind.”
But isn’t “horror” supposed to be a part of Halloween fun?
Don’t get me wrong – I get that Halloween is, among other things, about getting spooked. And, if you are into that, there’s plenty of ways to do it. There are ghosts, cemeteries, coffins, skeletons, blood and gore. These do not target particular groups. Death and the fear of it are universal human experiences, as is a fascination with the paranormal. Skeletons, coffins, and the like allow us to entertain these collectively imagined horrors. But asylums are about horrors that happened as part of eugenics- era attempts to weed out the “unfit.” Getting our Halloween thrills from being on these grounds is problematic for the same reasons it would be to do so at the site of any genocide or mass abuse of a group of people. Why is it okay for disability?
To be clear, I don’t disagree that these were scary places. They were indeed places of horror, and should be remembered as such, not sensationalized. Their victims should be memorialized, not exploited. With asylum tours however, the question is: who is being positioned as the object of our fear- the oppressor or the oppressed? Although, I acknowledge, one does see “asylum nurse” Halloween costumes too, they are far outnumbered by the “deranged inmate” costumes. Perhaps this year, for a Halloween fright, consider looking up our country’s history of state sanctioned genocide of disabled people. Now, that’s scary! Alas, I am unable to find costumes representing the eugenics leaders who championed this effort. It’s ironic that those wrongfully incarcerated in these asylums are depicted as terrifying; in fact, the most terrifying actors in this story were the federally funded scientists, mental health professionals and physicians who endorsed these practices as part of a eugenics agenda. And, ultimately, a society that allowed such horrors to occur.
“It’s just a bit of fun… lighten up!”
People who flag these issues are often told to lighten up, that it’s just a harmless bit of fun. But these activities have implications for people; they target a group identity. When we commercialize disability oppression, it exploits a population already marginalized in society and has ramifications for our children and for all disabled people. In this way, we become (unintentionally) complicit in their oppression.
But, what does this have to do with inclusive education?!
Inclusivity in schools mirrors inclusivity in society. A society where disability continues to be associated with fear and shame is not a truly inclusive one, and this will be reflected in the attitudes and practices seen in schools. When we reinforce the stigmas associated with disability and mental illness through these so-called harmless activities, ableist associations become ingrained and are harder to undo. For inclusive education to be successful, we need to broadly cultivate a culture of belongingness, and instill among children an understanding of the full range of human diversity. Activities that dehumanize disabled people are counter-productive to any efforts aimed at increasing acceptance of all people in schools and society.
What could we do instead:
Rather than donning costumes or partaking in activities that perpetuate narratives of fear of people with bodily difference or mental disabilities, consider learning more about the legacy of eugenics, or find meaningful ways to honor its victims. Whether or not, you have a family member with a disability, consider learning more about the collective history of disabled people. Perhaps we can have conversations with children--in developmentally appropriate ways-- about which costumes can be hurtful to certain groups of people. Or simply choose to celebrate the holiday with fun (or frightful!) activities that are not connected to group identities.
I wish you all a happy and safe Halloween!
*Note on language: This essay uses both identity-first language (e.g. disabled people) as well as person-first language (e.g. people with psychiatric disabilities).