Disability ─ The Social, Political, and Ethical Debate

What is it like to experience disability? What are the prevailing cultural attitudes toward those who experience disability? How do social norms and public policies affect those experiencing disability? This book provides a vivid and concrete introduction to the wealth of social, political and ethical debates that surround the experience of disability.


Beginning with an exploration of the perspective of persons with disabilities, the essays demonstrate the extent to which the disability experience is affected by social and cultural values, attitudes, and policies. In addition to these first-person reflections, there are essays relating to such issues as:

-The disability rights movement
-Disability studies
-Social policy relating to disability

Physician-assisted suicide, genetic testing, selective abortion, the moral status of handicapped newborns, and living and dying with dignity
Written in an engaging style with a focus on the concrete, this collection of essays includes contributions by John Hockenberry, Oiver Sacks, Peter Singer, and others. It is a marvelous resource for enabling the reader to comprehend the experience of disability and to explore contemporary issues involving the disability community.

Robert M. Baird (Waco, TX) is a professor and the former chair of the philosophy department at Baylor University. He is editor with Stuart E. Rosenbaum of Prometheus’s Contemporary Issues series.

Stuart E. Rosenbaum (Waco, TX) is a professor of philosophy at Baylor University. He is editor with Robert M. Baird of Prometheus’s Contemporary Issues series, and is the editor of Pragmatism and Religion.

S. Kay Toombs (Waco, TX) is an emeritus associate professor of philosophy at Baylor University, the editor of The Handbook of Phenomenology and Medicine, and the author of The Meaning of Illness: A Phenomenological Account of the Different Perspectives of Physician and Patient.