DPI recently established a Taskforce which will deal with bioethics issues. For inquiries please contact the Chair
In October 2002 persons with disabilities from around the world came together in Sapporo to discuss issues that affect the lives of 600 million disabled people worldwide. The results of these discussions are reflected in the workshop resolutions.
Theme: Bioethics
Topic: Genetics & Discrimination
Resolutions:
I. We demand the right to be different
II. We believe that no parent has the right to design and select their unborn
child to be according to their own desires and no parent has the right to design
their born child according to their own desires.
III. We defend and demand a concept of "person" that is not linked
to a certain set of abilities
Topic: Bioethics & Disability
Resolutions:
I. We must develop information and instructional campaigns to counteract the
discrimination and violations of our basic human rights, which have used genetics
and bioscience as justification.
II. We are happy to exist and encourage prospective parents to choose life over
death where medical science may encourage the opposite
III. We demand equal access to the benefits of bio-science to all persons with
disabilities regardless of wealth
Topic: Quality of Life Assessment
Resolutions:
I. We must ensure the involvement of persons with disabilities at all levels
in advice, information, education, and decision making concerning bioethics
II. We acknowledge that women with disabilities play a key role in issues concerning
bioethics
III. We recommend the introduction of disability studies and disability equalities
training to all people involved in bioethics issues
Topic: Who is Making the Decisions
Resolutions:
I. We demand that the sections pertaining to disabilities in the Document of
the UNESCO World Conference on Sciences, 1999 be implemented ( World Conference
on Science, organized by UNESCO and ICSU, held in Budapest, Hungary June 26
– July 1, 1999. Documents can be found at: http://www.unesco.org/science/wcs
)
II. We recommend that DPI demand that governments and international agencies
such as the U.N. provide sufficient monetary support to ensure meaningful involvement
of persons with disabilities in bioethics consultation
III. We recommend that DPI promote the introduction of disability studies in
all member countries to change the image of disability in a positive way among
academics
If you have problems opening the documents below please e-mail me . I tested a few computers and found one which also had a problem receiving the error message message 'Object Label Badly Formatted' when downloading the PDF files.For some solutions see http://www.transedit.co.uk/downloading.htm It seems to be related to Acrobat 5.0. You can do two things a) just safe the PDF file first onto your hard drive before you open it or b) you can go into your acrobat and Uncheck the "Allow Fast Web View" option: Prefs > General > Options > Allow Fast Web View. This worked for the computer I saw the error message on. Please contact me if these solutions do not work for you and I send them as an attachment if you want
