Disability, identity and the "expressivist objection"

Disability, identity and the "expressivist objection".

The practice of prenatal screening for disability is sometimes objected to because of the hurt and offence such practices may cause to people currently living with disabilities. This objection is commonly termed "the expressivist objection". In response to the objection it is standardly claimed that disabilities are analogous to illnesses. And just as it would be implausible to suppose reductio...

Engaging with the Expressivist Objection

Cognitive Enhancement and the Identity Objection

I argue that the technology to attempt to create posthumans is much closer than many realize and that the right to become posthuman is much more complicated than it might first appear. Two Radical Experiments in Cognitive Enhancement It is foreseeable that some time this century genetic technologies, nanotechnology or computerimplants could be used to attempt to enhance human biology in a numbe...

The expressivist objection to prenatal testing: the experiences of families living with genetic disease.

The expressivist objection to prenatal testing is acknowledged as a significant critique of prenatal testing practices most commonly advanced by disability rights supporters. Such writers argue that prenatal testing and selective termination practices are objectionable as they express disvalue not only of the foetus being tested, but also of disabled people as a whole, by focusing exclusively o...

The expressivist objection to prenatal diagnosis: can it be laid to rest?

Received 24 May 2007 Accepted 24 May 2007 Tom Shakespeare’s book Disability rights and wrongs is very rich and interesting and ought to be compulsory reading for anyone interested in the relation between disability and medical ethics. In my short contribution to this symposium on the book, I will focus on a particular aspect of his discussion of prenatal diagnosis and termination of pregnancy. ...