Living with Disabilities

Gems

• Matha Nussbaum, Frontiers of Justice. (Boston: Belknap Press, 2007. 
  "Theories of social justice are necessarily abstract, reaching beyond the particular and the immediate to the general and the timeless. Yet such theories, addressing the world and its problems, must respond to the real and changing dilemmas of the day.  A brilliant work of practical philosophy, Frontiers of Justice is dedicated to this proposition. Taking up three urgent problems of social justice neglected by current theories and thus harder to tackle in practical terms and everyday life, Martha Nussbaum seeks a theory of social justice that can guide us to a richer, more responsive approach to social cooperation.
  The idea of the social contract--especially as developed in the work of John Rawls--is one of the most powerful approaches to social justice in the Western tradition. But as Nussbaum demonstrates, even Rawls's theory, suggesting a contract for mutual advantage among approximate equals, cannot address questions of social justice posed by unequal parties. How, for instance, can we extend the equal rights of citizenship--education, health care, political rights and liberties--to those with physical and mental disabilities? How can we extend justice and dignified life conditions to all citizens of the world? And how, finally, can we bring our treatment of nonhuman animals into our notions of social justice? Exploring the limitations of the social contract in these three areas, Nussbaum devises an alternative theory based on the idea of "capabilities." She helps us to think more clearly about the purposes of political cooperation and the nature of political principles--and to look to a future of greater justice for all."  (from Amazon.com)
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• Martha Nussbaum, . “The Capabilities of People with Cognitive Disabilities.” Metaphilosophy 40.3-4 (2009): 331–351. Web.  Free online.
• Center for Ethics and Society, "Disability Rights."  A rich source, concentrating on disability rights and issues of genetics.  Well worth exploring. 
  

The Data

The Narratives

• Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. “Becoming Disabled.” The New York Times 19 Aug. 2016.

The Law

• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990..  Probably the most important piece of civil rights legislation enacted in the last three decades.  Authored by a Democratic Senator (Harkin) and with major support from Bob Dole, it was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush and represented a genuiniely bi-partisan effort to ensure equal access and reasonable accomodatino for persons with disabilities. 
• The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an United Nations treaty, to support the rights of persons with disabilities, has been ratified by almost 160 nations, but the United States Senate (along with the Congo and Guyanaa) has refused to ratify the treaty.

The Issues

Bibliography

Stanford Enclyclopedia of Philosophy    This is the single best online resource in philosophy.  The articles are carefully done and meticulously reviewed and are updated as needed.  The model for an online encyclopedia.

• Wasserman, David, Asch, Adrienne, Blustein, Jeffrey and Putnam, Daniel, "Disability and Justice", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2015 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/disability-justice/>.
• Wasserman, David, Asch, Adrienne, Blustein, Jeffrey and Putnam, Daniel, "Disability: Health, Well-Being, and Personal Relationships", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/disability-health/>.
• Wasserman, David, Asch, Adrienne, Blustein, Jeffrey and Putnam, Daniel, "Disability: Definitions, Models, Experience", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/disability/>.
• Bickenbach, Jerome, "Disability and Health Care Rationing", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/disability-care-rationing/>.
• Wasserman, David, Asch, Adrienne, Blustein, Jeffrey and Putnam, Daniel, "Cognitive Disability and Moral Status", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/cognitive-disability/>.

New York Times Topics: Disabilities 

• Eric Parens and Adrien Asch, eds.  Prenatal Testing and Disability Rights (Hastings Center Studies in Ethics series),  Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000. 
• Glover, Jonathan. Choosing Children: Genes, Disability, and Design.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008 (reprint).   An early but excellent work.

Videos

• 
  Professor Jeremy Waldron, University Professor at the New York University Law School, delivers the sixth in he 2015 Gifford Lecture series, entitled "Hard and Heart-breaking Cases: The Profoundly Disabled As Our Human Equals."  Published Feb. 10, 2015. This is the sixth and final lecture of Professor Waldron's series. For information on the entire series, click here.

PowerPoints