Disability and New Eugenics – August 5th

In this week’s meeting, we will have a presentation on and discuss disability and new eugenics.  CW: ableism, historical oppression of disabled people.

 New eugenics is the name currently given to certain structures in society that directly or indirectly threaten the lives of people with disabilities.

 Bio-ethicists are, for instance, worried that new technologies like genetic modification and NIPT (a test that can determine if an unborn child has Down’s, Edwards or Patau Syndrome and gives parents the opportunity to choose abortion if the test is positive) will parallel ‘old’ eugenics programmes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when people with disabilities were systematically sterilized, hidden away from the rest of society or even killed.

 New eugenics is also studied in the context of neoliberal capitalism; its hyper-focus on creating and maintaining economic growth is seen by many bio-ethicists and disability rights advocates as producing a societal desire for productive bodies and minds. This desire leads to a disregard for ‘non-productive’ people (and animals), and besides being present in bio-technologies, can also be found in certain medical decisions, social policies (such as budget cuts on healthcare) and in mainstream media and political debates, where the absence and erasure of disabled people’s narratives both reflect and perpetuate societal disregard and prejudices.

 The pandemic is only increasing the effects of the structures; the death rate for instance is the highest among people with disabilities and some measures and even some of the relaxations are contravening with human rights agreements.

After a short presentation on the topic, there will be time for open discussion.