1st Edition

Disability Definitions, Value and Identity

By M. Bonner Copyright 1999

    What is disability? Why terminate a pregnancy when disabling traits are diagnosed in the foetus? Can disability be part of a person’s identity? These are important questions in the current climate of increased pre-natal screening programmes designed to further reduce the numbers of children born with disabilities. This book looks at disablement from a philosophical perspective by examining these questions through a combination of critical review, discussion and narrative theory. Disability: definitions, value and identity provides practical and concise information for social care workers, counsellors, academics, students, genetics counsellors, and medical and healthcare ethicists. It will also be invaluable for disability pressure groups and policy makers.

    Part 1: Defining disablement: why bother. The ICIDH. The UPIAS. Nordenfelt's theory. Harris's theory. The ICF. Part 2: Disablement and the idea of a good human life: Termination of pregnancy and the idea of a good life. A hedonistic theory of the good life. Preference satisfaction as the good life. An objective goods theory. A critique of 'maximising' approaches to the question of capacity to lead a good life. Part 3: Disablement and the person: three philosophical theories of the person & their implications for disablement. Persons and human beings. Disablement and personal identity. Narrative identity and disablement. Five structuring concepts of personal existence. Disablement and the five concepts. The expressivist objection. Overall conclusion.

    Biography

    M. Bonner