Nonable-bodied

As the importance of a competent labor force increased, it became increasingly necessary to separate the able-bodied poor from the nonable-bodied.

When individuals are positioned beyond "the norm", what constitutes a socially valued identity frequently clashes with experiences of the self — for example, as black, as indigenous, as non-Anglo, as working class, as lesbian/gay/bi- or transsexual, as nonable-bodied, as a single parent, as ill,as fat, and so forth.

The distribution of food; the provision of security, shelter, education, child care, and medical care; indigenous interventions for mental and social ills and so forth from prehistory to the well-documented Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601, which codified services for the able-bodied and nonable-bodied poor, are precursors and provided a template for human services in the early United States.