Chorea and community in a nineteenth-century town (original) (raw)

The article challenges the traditional view of Huntington's disease sufferers as marginalized, presenting evidence from a historical account of East Hampton, New York, where affected families were integrated into the community. This integration was particularly significant in the mid-nineteenth century when George Huntington made his observations. The narrative also emphasizes the historical agency of individuals afflicted by the disease, in contrast to the often erasing representations in eugenic studies. It highlights that the societal changes were more responsible for the later stigmatization of the disease than the medical aspects of Huntington's chorea itself.