info@disabilityandfaith.org
80% of the world’s citizens who experience disabilities, people like Hiwot, live in developing countries. One person in seven has a disability here at home. My small sacrifice of removing one thing from my life (frankly, an unhealthy practice anyway) in order to turn my attention outward and upward on their behalf …well, it seems to make some sense.
In a recent BBC documentary, Sally Phillips explores the potential ramifications of a new, less-intrusive screening test for Down syndrome.
Today, we are pleased to welcome Matthew Piamonte to the site for a guest post on Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying Bill C-14. Matthew is finishing his residency training in family medicine [Read More]
Many who have not had the experience of illness or disability struggle to understand or validate the quality of life, skills and value of people who live with illness or disability.
I do not want you to suffer any more than you have to, but there has to be a solution other than physician-assisted death, because whether it seems like it or not, I believe every person, including you, is here for a reason. I hope you know that your life has value regardless of what you can or cannot do for yourself. You can still make a valuable impact on those you come into contact with.
What I am arguing is that in Western society even those of us who see ourselves as competent, mentally healthy adults who are fully in control of our rational capacities are influenced and inter-connected in many more ways that we would sometimes like to admit.
The Globe and Mail reported a recent Danish headline that reads “Plans to Make Denmark a Down syndrome-free perfect society”. In Denmark the discussion is taking place regarding aborting fetuses with Down Syndrome so their society will be “free of” such people around 2030.
Utilitarianism forms the backbone of Singer’s theories. For him, ethics and the question of personhood should be rooted in ‘quality of life’ rather than in hypothetical ideas about ‘sanctity’. Much of his thinking revolves around the question “can they suffer?” As such, animals and humans are placed on equal terms. For him the question is not between human and animal, but between ‘person’ and ‘non-person’.
One important idea that has been resonating in philosophical circles over the past two decades is a growing conversation regarding the difference between what is ‘human’ and who is a ‘person’. The ideas of what constitutes a ‘person’ are certainly not new. We find the roots of these controversial discussions in the writings of the Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Many of the new ‘ideas’ are simply a repackaging of very old ones.
Subscribe to our mailing list and receive our most recent articles and resources.