Ethical issues in disability studies

elective seminars

(in Polish) Podstawowa wiedza z zakresu socjologii i psychologii społecznej

Classroom

The common goal of disability studies, bioethics and the postulates coming from the disabled people environment should be to analyse the phenomenon of disability in various categories: cultural, social, political and axiological. The classes will be interdisciplinary and will concern the analysis of moral problems in care and support of people with disabilities. We will attempt to present and analyse those issues that are the subject of ethical discussion, the demands of activists of the movement for the rights of persons with disabilities and which may affect the social debate on disability.

One of the founders of the Independent Living Movement, Judy Heumann, wrote “For us, independence does not mean doing things ourselves. It means you can make independent decisions. It is a mental process independent of the body.” The world of people without disabilities links the concept of dignity with the concept of autonomy. People with disabilities, who for many reasons, e.g. the inability to perform daily activities, self-service, economic security, tend to be dependent on others, perceive the connection between human dignity and autonomy as a threat. The need for care or assistance is not perceived by them as evidence of dependence, on the contrary - it is a kind of prosthesis that allows them to gain independence. Classes will be interdisciplinary and will concern the analysis of moral problems in the care and support of people with disabilities. We will attempt to present and analyse the issues that are the subject of ethical discussion, the postulates of the movement for the rights of people with disabilities and which may affect the social debate on disability.

Classes will focus on the following questions and issues: Is the autonomy paradigm adequate to understand the ethical dimension of therapeutic, family and social relations with and towards people with disabilities? Who gains and who loses? What is the core of the conflict between the principle of acting for the benefit of a person with a disability and respect for autonomy? What separates paternalistic and patronizing attitude from the one resulting from a sense of concern for another person and consideration of their needs? What do values such as integrity, sensitivity and vulnerability mean in the context of people with disabilities? Is it possible to combine the concept of rights with the concept of care? We will talk about informed consent, incapacitation, supported decision making and interdependence.

Davis W.S. (2001) Disability and Bioethics: Removing Barriers to Understanding and Setting the Agenda for a New Conversation. Th e American Journal of Bioethics 1(3): 64–65.

Davy, L. (2015). Philosophical Inclusive Design: Intellectual Disability and the Limits of Individual Autonomy in Moral and Political Theory. Hypatia. A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, 30(1): 132-148.

Fineman, Martha. 2000. Contract and care. Chicago-Kent Law Review 76 (3): 1403–40.

Frey, R. G. 2005. Autonomy, diminished life, and the threshold for use. In Personal autonomy: New essays on personal autonomy and its role in contemporary moral philosophy, ed. James Stacey Taylor. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Keller J. (1997) Autonomy, Relationality, and Feminist Ethics. Hypatia 12 (2): 152–164.

Kittay, Eva Feder. 1999. Love’s labor: Essays on women, equality, and dependency. New York: Routledge.

Kittay, E. (2011). The Ethics of Care, Dependence, and Disability. Ratio Juris 24 (1):49-58

Kittay, E. (2010). The personal is philosophical is political: A philosopher and mother of a cognitively disabled person sends notes from the battlefield. In Cognitive disability and its challenge to moral philosophy, ed. Licia Carlson and Eva Feder Kittay. Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell.

Morris J. (2001) Impairment and disability: constructing an ethics of care which promotes human rights. Hypatia 16 (4): 1–16.

Nedelsky, Jennifer. 1989. Reconceiving autonomy: Sources, thoughts and possibilities. Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 1: 7–36.

Rudnicki, S. (2014). Niepełnosprawność i złożoność. Studia Socjologiczne, 2(213), 43-61.

Shakespeare, R. (2014). Disability rights and wrong revisited. London: Routledge.

Szeroczyńska, M., Grzejszczak, R (2012). Ubezwłasnowolnienie i inne formy wsparcia dla osób z niepełnosprawnością intelektualną w Polsce – teoria i praktyka. W: Jeśli nie ubezwłasnowolnienie, to co? Prawne formy wsparcia osób z niepełnosprawnością intelektualną, Warszawa.

Zdrodowska, M. (2016). Między aktywizmem a akademią. Studia nad niepełnosprawnością. Teksty Drugie, 5, 384-403.

Acquired knowledge:

After completing the course the student knows and understands:

- the deepened role of bioethics in the practice and development of biomedical sciences and other bio sciences (K_W02)

- advanced bioethical terminology in Polish and in English, which is the basic language of this discipline (K_W03)

- in-depth, leading to specialization, issues, problems and the current state of discussion and research in the field of selected specific bioethics (e.g. ethics of procreation, end-of-life ethics, ethics of new technologies, ethics of the environment, etc.) (K_W09)

Acquired skills:

After completing the course the student is able to:

- identify ethical problems and conflicts occurring in the practice and development of biomedical sciences and other bio sciences as well as in the practice of everyday and social life (K_U01)

- critically analyze oral and written statements of other authors in the field of ethics and bioethics - reconstruct theses, identify factual and normative assumptions, critically assess the correctness and strength of argumentation (K_U02)

- prepare a written essay, in particular in the field of bioethics or related disciplines and subdisciplines of science, in accordance with the principles of the technique of writing a given type of work, correctly linguistic and editorial formulate a statement in writing, develop a bibliography and links (K_U13)

- prepare and deliver an oral presentation (paper), in particular in the field of bioethics or related disciplines and sub-disciplines of science (K_U14)

Social competences acquired:

After completing the course the student is ready to:

- critically assessing knowledge, information obtained and content received (K_K01)

- recognizing the importance of knowledge in ethics and bioethics as well as bioethical education in solving problems arising from the practice and development of biomedical and other sciences

bio sciences and consulting experts in the event of difficulties in solving these problems independently (K_K02)

- reliable and responsible development of the output of bioethics as a theoretical field and social practice (K_K06)

- recognizing ethical problems and challenges related to one's own research and professional work, in particular compliance, development and promotion of ethical work standards for clinical consultants, members of bioethics / ethics committees and ethics and bioethics educators (K_K07)

Attendance: - two absences in the semester are allowed. Each additional absence will result in lowering the grade by one degree.

Class activity: - I expect students to prepare for classes, read the indicated readings and actively participate in seminar discussions, express opinions, doubts, ask questions, comment on the others’ opinions (including authors of texts).

Additional work and tasks - last classes: organization and participation in the Oxford debate.