For instance, in San Francisco a law of 1867 deemed it illegal for "any person, who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or deformed in any way, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, to expose himself or herself to public view.
"[2][1] Exceptions to public exposure were acceptable only if the people were subjects of demonstration, to illustrate the separation of disabled from nondisabled and their need for reformation.
"[4] Similarly, other authors suggested that one who gave charity to beggars without knowing what was to be done with the funds was as "culpable as one who fires a gun into a crowd".
During this period, urban spaces underwent an influx of new residents, which placed strain on the existing communities.
This meant large numbers of people who were strangers to each other now occupied closer quarters than they had in small towns, where such local institutions as schools, families, and churches helped moderate social relations.
[1] The language of the unsightly beggar ordinances pertained to hiding the parts of the person that may appear disabled or diseased.
[3]: 9–10 The first American ordinance pertaining to preventing people with disabilities from appearing in public was passed in 1867 in San Francisco, California.
Letters and documents from the period just after the California Gold Rush note the large number of "insane" people wandering the streets.
[10] The Chicago ordinance of 1881 read as follows: Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, or an improper person to be allowed in or on the streets, highways, thoroughfares, or public places in the city, shall not therein or thereon expose himself or herself to public view, under the penalty of a fine of $1 for each offense (Chicago City Code 1881)[3]: 2 The $1 is equivalent to $32 in 2023.
[3]: 5 This law was similar to those of the United States, being written in English and during a time when Manila was under American control, and included the common phrasing "no person who is diseased".
[12] Omaha, Nebraska, repealed its ugly law in 1967, yet had an arrest of a person for violating the unsightly beggar ordinance documented in 1974.
[3]: 2 Historian Brad Byrom noted ugly laws have been unevenly and rarely enforced, being disregarded by police.
[1] The first recorded arrest pertaining to ugly laws was Martin Oates in San Francisco, California, in July 1867.
[3]: 101 Use of the ugly laws to control the use of public spaces by people with disabilities was still occurring after the signing of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
In 1860s San Francisco, Chinese immigrants and their descendants were unlawfully quarantined en masse to prevent spread of disease and epidemics.
[3]: 12 In 1980, while on tour in Europe, a performer with the San Francisco-based Lilith Women's Theatre, Victoria Ann Lewis, delivered a monologue about the difficulty of people with disabilities finding work due to the social idea that people with disabilities should hide or be in the circus.
The policy makers suggested this was to prevent the children their union would produce from tainting society's heredity pool.
People involved with charitable policy suggested that while euthanasia would be a release for the person struggling with their disabilities, it also went against the moral principles taught by religion.