Valuing Profoundly Disabled People ─ Fellowship, Community and Ties of Birth

Growing numbers of babies are surviving into infancy and beyond with profound and multiple learning difficulties and disabilities. The conditions and abilities that characterise their lives are the subject of extensive educational and medical literature, however much less is written about the broader philosophical themes that emerge. This book provides a series of reflections on the moral, social, political and educational issues that surround people whose lives are characterised by dependency, vulnerability and profound impairment. Drawing from over 100 invaluable interviews with those who live and work alongside people with profound disability, each chapter critiques contemporary philosophical material, offering an original argument and identifying and illuminating the implications for profoundly disabled people in the contexts of education, teaching, health care and social policy.

John Vorhaus is Director of the Postgraduate Research Programmes at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK.