[Ohio-talk] Disabilities and their portrayal

[Paul Dressell]

Kaiti Shelton attends the University of Dayton and is active in our 
Students' Division. Paul
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kaiti Shelton" <kaiti.shelton at gmail.com>
To: "NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List" <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 11:21 AM
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Disabilities and their portrayal


> Hi all,
>
>
>
> I made quite a stir in my medical ethics class this morning.  We were 
> asked
> to consider an example from our book, which concerned a 10 year old boy 
> who
> was according to the book having all these horrible issues as a result of
> CP.  Some of the things the book claimed about this boy were not
> characteristics of CP at all, and it even claimed that CP was genetic 
> itself
> rather than caused by complications.  The question was, "Is it moral to 
> kill
> Johnny via lethal injection to end his pain and the suffering of his
> parents?"  I wasn't going to say anything at first, but then I started
> questioning things.  Is it moral to kill someone if you think they're in
> pain, but they don't have the autonomy to tell you whether they are or 
> not?
> Is it moral to kill a child when his parents are making the request?  Is 
> it
> moral to make this decision without full and accurate knowledge of what 
> the
> condition really is?
>
>
>
> And you know what happened?  When I contradicted the book the professor 
> was
> first flustered, then when I started answering questions with the 
> knowledge
> I had he told me I was ahead of the curve, and proceeded with his lecture,
> using the false information and pretenses the book provided.  I was 
> shocked.
> This is a class of pre-med majors (and me who is the only non-medical
> specific person in the class), and it boggled me that this sort of stuff
> would be fed to the next generation of doctors, dietitions, exercise
> scientists, etc.  I know this is just an undergraduate class, but 
> shouldn't
> doctors always take a patient-centered approach, or a human-centered
> approach for that matter?  And I'm reminded of "The Right to Live in the
> World," and how what that speech says applies to this situation.  The
> misinformation in my bioethics textbook only substantiates the claim that
> people with disabilities lead miserable or terribly painful lives, and 
> that
> misninformation in the minds and hands of future doctors is a scary thing 
> to
> me.
>
>
>
> Anyway, just thought I'd continue discussion on this topic with others who
> will get it.  I'm sorry if I ranted a little; I got a little passionate on
> this issue.
>
>
>
> Kaiti Shelton
>
> University of Dayton---2016
>
> Music Therapy Major, Psychology Minor, Clarinet
>
> Ohio Association of Blind Students, President
>
> NFB Community Service Group, Service Project Committee Chair
>
> Sigma Alpha Iota-Delta Sigma
>
>
>
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