Not in the way you’re thinking. But I certainly didn’t know that a century ago, there were a rash of cities and even one state–Pennsylvania–where a disabled person could be arrested for bring seen in public.

The Ugly Laws, as they are now known, cropped up in several cities, San Francisco being the first, in the 1860s. Pennsylvania’s legislature voted a similar bill into law in the early 1890s. New York tried to follow suit, but failed.

Also known as “unsightly beggar ordinances,” these laws were pretty much directed at the homeless, street people, and those forced to beg in order to survive. Remember those were the days before Social Security. Many of those who lived on the streets were also disabled and the language of the law targeted them:

“Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object … shall not … expose himself or herself to public view.”

At the core of these acts was “the desire to preserve the quality of life of the community,” according to Wikipedia, which compared the rules to those enforced by homeowner’s associations.

Even though the word “ugly” never appeared in the language of any of the ordinances or laws, activists labeled them as such and used them as a cornerstone in their fight for anti-discrimination protection for the disabled, according to book by Susan Schweik, The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public. All these laws have since been repealed with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, but some not until the mid-1970s.