Dignity and compassion: exploring social justice through disability

dc.contributor.advisorStienstra, Deborah
dc.contributor.advisorValk, John
dc.contributor.authorMitchell, Katee
dc.date.accessioned2023-03-01T16:37:49Z
dc.date.available2023-03-01T16:37:49Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.date.updated2018-08-17T00:00:00Z
dc.description.abstractThis project seeks to answer the question: How can we ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities in society? Defining personhood, and consequently human dignity, through rationality is restricting and has led to the exclusion of people with disabilities. Rationality, defined through capacities like self-awareness, self-reflection, and communication, hierarchizes human value and creates an individual autonomy centred understanding of human dignity. Through exploring the notions of personhood, dignity, and social justice, this thesis argues that society is well-structured when compassion is its foundation. This focus shift can be applied to dialogue surrounding physician assisted dying, and reveal the shortcomings of autonomy based politics in caring for people with disabilities. Highlighting the caring relationships that humans engage in shifts the focus of social justice from individual liberty to universal vulnerability and dependency. Founded in our mutual need for belonging, an ethic of compassion accentuates the relationality of human beings and centres care in the community.
dc.description.copyright© Katee Mitchell, 2016
dc.formattext/xml
dc.format.extentv, 84 pages
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.identifier.urihttps://unbscholar.lib.unb.ca/handle/1882/14235
dc.language.isoen_CA
dc.publisherUniversity of New Brunswick
dc.rightshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.subject.disciplinePolicy Studies
dc.titleDignity and compassion: exploring social justice through disability
dc.typemaster thesis
thesis.degree.disciplinePolicy Studies
thesis.degree.fullnameMaster of Philosophy in Policy Studies
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of New Brunswick
thesis.degree.levelmasters
thesis.degree.nameM.Phil.

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