Structural ableism and institutionalization of disabled people.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE Structural ableism is a system of macrolevel policies, laws, and cultural and social norms that become institutionalized and serve to devalue and discriminate against disabled people. In the United States, institutionalization was and is not only one of the major forms of violence disabled people faced but also one of the first ways disabled people were defined as a class-institutionalization helped shape how we understand disability and how disabled people were and are treated. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine institutionalization and structural ableism. More specifically, our first subaim was to examine the relationship between historical institutionalization and the institutionalization of disabled people today. Our second subaim was to explore the relationship between historical institutionalization and implicit disability bias in states today.

RESEARCH METHOD/DESIGN To explore these questions, we analyzed data from the 1860 U.S. Census about institutionalization, Medicaid data about institutionalization today (2022), and data about state implicit disability bias today (2004-2022).

RESULTS Our findings suggest that states that had more institutions in 1860 and institutionalized more disabled people in 1860 were correlated with higher rates of institutionalization today (2022). States that had more institutions in 1860 also appeared to have worse implicit disability attitudes today, centuries later.

CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS Structural ableism is a threat to the health, quality of life, and equity of disabled people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).