Is Inclusion a Civic Virtue? Cosmopolitanism, Disability, and the Liberal State

It mandates a change in attitude in the larger social fabric ... to ensure that they are no longer viewed as problems, but as holders of rights that deserve to be met with the same urgency we afford to our own.5 Understood in this way, robust inclusion describes not only a way of structuring a socie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social theory and practice 2007-10, Vol.33 (4), p.557-578
Main Author: Burtt, Shelley
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Attitude change
Attitudes
Childbirth
Children
Civics
Cochlear implants
Community
Cosmopolitanism
Cultural Pluralism
Deaf
Deafness
Disabilities
Disability
Disabled persons
Down syndrome
Genetics
Gestation
Handicapped
Ideology
Liberal Democratic Societies
Liberalism
Morality
Multiculturalism
Parents
Parents & parenting
Personal space
Physically handicapped
Political theory
Politics
Polities
Public space
Rawls, John
Social contract
Social Integration
Social values
Society
Surgery
Twins
United States of America
USA
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Summary:It mandates a change in attitude in the larger social fabric ... to ensure that they are no longer viewed as problems, but as holders of rights that deserve to be met with the same urgency we afford to our own.5 Understood in this way, robust inclusion describes not only a way of structuring a society's institutions so as to maximize the integration of all disabled persons, but also the welcoming mind-set that would accompany such restructuring: an openness to sharing public and private space, political and personal life with the physically and mentally disabled on equal terms. While securing a commitment to this sort of inclusion would already be a substantial achievement, truly robust inclusion of the disabled must take one step further, remaining at the very least neutral about the conception, gestation, and birth of individuals with genetic differences, accepting and even embracing the parental decision to bear a child with Down syndrome, select for dwarfism, reject a cochlear implant for their deaf child, or refuse surgery for conjoined twins.
ISSN:0037-802X
2154-123X
DOI:10.5840/soctheorpract20073342