Impairment and Disability: Law and Ethics at the Beginning and End of Life

This book explores legislation intended to protect the interests of people with disabilities or impairments. Considering a broad range of ethical and legal concerns which arise in issues of life, death and disability, it covers the social and legal responses to the equality rights of disabled people, focusing on those responses to:

• the right to life
• the end of life
• assisted suicide.

This work engages with contemporary debates, examines case studies and explores the problems surrounding many legal concepts within the context of disability and impairment. The authors argue that it is crucial to distinguish between unjust discrimination and differential treatment and unify the disagreements surrounding the issues by highlighting ethical ideals that should be shared by all stakeholders in life and death decisions that impact on people with disabilities.

Topical and contemporary, this book is a perfect supplementary text for students of all levels and researchers working in the areas of law, applied ethics and disability theory.

Life, Death, Disability and Impairment in Context. Conceptualizing Disability. Towards Ethical Cohesion. Decisions at the Beginning of Life. Decisions at the End of Life. Seeking Assistance in Dying. Conclusions