The 2025 edition of a 10th grade global history textbook has broken new ground by including a full footnote mentioning disability history.
The disability community at large celebrated the monumental footnote on page 389 in chapter 7. The lengthy chapter on the Holocaust contains the sentence, “Hitler and the Nazi regime orchestrated a widespread persecution and extermination of Jews and other targeted groups.1” The footnote at the bottom of the page reads, “1 These groups include Romani, disabled, and trans people.”
“We were hoping they would at least mention the Aktion T4 ‘involuntary euthanasia’ program or the Hadamar killing center, but even a little mention is a big deal to us,” said disability historian Anna Mallory. “We know that 10th grade history students read every footnote, and this will propel the general populace’s awareness of disability in history.”
Disability culture has a long and varied history that frequently gets omitted or glossed over in American education. Some disabled people think the signing of the ADA in 1990 was significant enough that students should learn about it, but most are realistic in their expectations.
“Trust me, we know that space in the curriculum is limited, and we aren’t asking for entire sections,” said Mallory. “Disabled people are only the largest minority, so it’s understandable that textbooks wouldn’t dedicate that much space to them.”
It is possible that future textbooks will include more footnotes or even a sentence in the actual text about disability history.