Disability, Health, Law, and Bioethics

Historically and across societies people with disabilities have been stigmatized and excluded from social opportunities on a variety of culturally specific grounds. In this collection, the authors explore the impact that the philosophical framing of disability can have on public policy questions, in the clinic, in the courtroom, and elsewhere. They examine the implications of this understanding for legal and policy approaches to disability, strategies for allocating and accessing health care, the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, health care rights, and other legal tools designed to address discrimination. This volume should be read by anyone seeking a balanced view of disability and understanding the connection between the framing of disability and policies that have a real world impact on individuals.

• Offers policymakers concrete ways to better reshape legal and policy treatments of disability, including the creation of strategies for allocating and accessing health care
• Provides an interdisciplinary approach, with diverse perspectives ranging from the clinical to the philosophical
• Readers will glean a nuanced understanding of the characterizations of disablement, particularly the notion of “mere difference”