In the 1850s, county governments across the Midwest established what were then known as “poor farms.” These were residential institutions for county “dependents” which included those unable to work, for reasons of disability or otherwise. In the 1970s, Johnson County, Iowa supervisors initiated what would become a decades-long attempt to preserve their county poor farm’s historic structures. Their actions encouraged education and reflection of the history of mental health care.

Disability Ecologies digs through the past of poor farm institutions and their vast connections in order to fathom their ongoing significance in our world of today. The now named Johnson County Historic Poor Farm reflects an intentional redesign of both land use and distribution of crops grown. To plan and implement the redesign necessitated an unlikely collection of shared interests, often at times in friction with each other. Join narrator Emerson Cram to explore roughly six years of efforts by restoration ecologists, local farmers and growers, local disability community members, and historic preservation experts, all to transform the former poor farm land into a place designed to meet a broad spectrum of community needs.  

Each week, you’ll hear from an eclectic mix of voices that bring together conversations about history and memory; medicine, law, and social services; community planning, design, and disability justice; historical land use; and the process of designing infrastructure for local foods. Whether you’re interested in the history of medicine, agriculture, or social services, or if you’re curious how disability culture and history can shape conversations about food systems and food justice, you’ll be inspired by stories that move beyond the silos of conventional thinking. All told, Disability Ecologies is a story about the possibilities of forgiveness, and what we can create when we can value the capacities that fundamentally make us human.