Special Issue of Journal of Disability and Religion, "Navigating Impasses in Bioethics: End of Life, Disability, and Mental Illness"

The Journal of Disability and Religion has published a special issue with contributions from an interdisciplinary workshop on "Navigating Impasses in Bioethics: End of Life, Disability, and Mental Illness" that was jointly organized by the Von Hugel Institute of Critical Catholic Inquiry at Cambridge University, and the Murphy Institute of the University of St. Thomas in December 2017.  As an apology for the delay in the publication, they are making the issue available on-line for free until the end of May -- a real deal, since the publication typically secured behind a fairly prohibitive pay-wall. 

You can access the entire issue here.

My contribution explores "The Contradictory Expressive Functions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Physician-assisted Suicide Laws."  Here's the abstract:

Certain laws, such as civil rights laws and criminal laws, are considered to have powerful expressive functions. The expressive functions may be directed at shifting social norms, or at articulating a social consensus about a particularly important norm. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is such a law, expressing the norm that “society’s accumulated myths and fears about persons with disabilities” are as debilitating as actual disabilities. This article will analyze the arguments of disability rights advocates that the expressive effect of laws legalizing physician-assisted suicide directly contradicts the norm of the ADA.

Here are links to the other excellent articles in the issue, written by scholars from many different disciplines, offering perspectives from the US, Europe, and Canada. 

MAiD in Canada and the Homo Economicus View of Dignity: Inclusive Enough?, Thana C. de Campos

The Weight of Living: Autonomy, Care, and Responsibility for the Self, Patrick McKearney

“This Condition isn't Going to get any Better so I can't see why we're Prolonging it”: Risks and Benefits of using Empirical Research to Inform Normative Decisions Concerning End-of-Life Care, Elizabeth Fistein, Gemma Clarke, Anthony Holland & Stephen Barclay

Assisted Dying and Suicide Prevention,  David Albert Jones

Lives Not Worth Living: Rethinking Autonomy and Assisted Dying in the Light of Profound Disability, Lidia Ripamonti

Living and Dying with a Disability in Debtor Society: Why Context Matters in Assisted Suicide Debates, Brian Brock

Anthropologies of Hope and Despair: Disability and the Assisted-Suicide Debate, David Elliot