On What Matters/Not

Abstract

Intertwining philosophical analysis with personal narrative on parenting a cognitively disabled child, this chapter provides an argument about the moral value of disabled individuals. Through an intimate case study of the author’s daughter Sesha, it argues that the flourishing of disabled persons should be assessed on the basis of those individuals’ own capacities and joys. It challenges the traditional philosophical emphasis on rationality as the defining faculty of human personhood, and indicates how concepts of justice, humanity, and dignity must be refashioned in light of what disability reveals about dependency, autonomy, and the desire for normalcy. Contra views that posit intrinsic rational capacities as central to personhood, this chapter defends a relational model of the self. From this it argues that cognitively disabled individuals require adequate care and resources to realize their capacities, which demands that communities recognize such individuals as worthy of moral parity.