Why we resist disability in people who look just like us

Attached are highlights from the current issue of Ethics, a symposium on disability by some of the leading theorists working on the subject. Highly applicable to current debates surrounding prenatal screening, social welfare, and "invisible disabilities" such as depression, the articles also serve as ruminations on the nature of personhood.

Of special note is an article by N. Ann Davis (McConnell Professor of Human Relations, Pomona College) addressing disabilities that may be indiscernible to others such as chronic pain, depression, or posttraumatic stress disorder. Specifically, Davis explains how meeting able-bodied standards – appearing healthy – is emphasized over actually being healthy, leading both to stigmatization of those we perceive as disabled and a refusal to accept the possibility of life-limiting conditions in those who look just like us.

Source: Eurekalert & others

Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

 

 

The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can't be done.
-- Mary Frances Berry