Research
I have focused my research on the following topics. Please click on a title to read more.
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Applying theories of justice to vulnerable populations
Recent advances in medical technology create many ethically complex situations in the health care professions. For example, many people with cognitive disabilities such as autism, mental retardation, and dementia are living longer and at higher levels of functioning than previously anticipated. Although mostly positive for the individual, these advances pose new challenges to families and society.
Many philosophers and bioethicists base their theories on the ideal notion that moral persons must possess a certain minimal level of rationality. On this traditional view, people with cognitive disabilities do not count as moral persons. Nonetheless, they are among the most vulnerable members of society because they depend on daily care to keep them safe and healthy and often lack sufficient capacity to report and protest harms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Contemporary political theories fail to recognize such harms as injustices, and thus provide an inadequate model for the care of people with cognitive disabilities.
I have examined how philosophical views of moral personhood apply to bioethical considerations of prenatal genetic testing, sex selection and single embryo transfer. In investigating the comparison between gender and mental retardation as disadvantaged categories, I've argued that both are socially constructed to some extent, and that both categories affect quality of life and health outcomes.
I assisted Eva Kittay and Licia Carlson in organizing the first international conference on the philosophy of cognitive disability on September 18-20, 2008 at Stony Brook University. A podcast of my presentation is available here.
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Feminist perspectives on the distribution and recognition of caregiving work
Feminist theorists characterize the concept of care as thoughtful, intentional work that requires considerable time, attention, energy and financial resources. Research has shown that many caregivers experience a decline in overall health when compared with their peers. In Canada and in the US, care for the chronically ill, the frail elderly, and individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities is often provided by unpaid family members, or by underpaid and underprivileged workers on the margins of society.
Compared to their (relatively unburdened) neighbors, these caregivers have less time, less energy, and hence fewer opportunities to participate in their social, cultural, and political communities. Although they have valuable perspectives to share, their voices are absent from public discussions about health policy because they are on the front lines of care. Furthermore, caregivers are often too busy looking after their charges to speak up for their own interests, which may be distinct from (or conflict directly with) the interests of those they serve.
In December 2010, I presented a preliminary draft of a paper entitled ""My Brother's Keeper: Siblings as Caregivers to People with Disabilities" to the members of the New York SWIPshop.
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The ethics of family relationships, with a special focus on siblings
When classical and contemporary philosophers write about the family, they focus on spouses, parents and children. So far there has been relatively little analysis of the sibling relationship. Furthermore, recent empirical data show that many parents rely on their children to provide unpaid care to disabled, chronically ill, or ageing family members in the home. This project addresses the following questions:
- Does the concept of justice apply to relationships among siblings?
- Can siblings have rights with respect to one another?
- Do children and adolescents have a responsibility to take care of their siblings/cousins when they become ill and/or disabled and require caregiving? If so, why? If not, why not?
- What are the ethical guidelines for asking one's children to do tasks within the scope of professional practice of family health aides, group home staff, or nursing home staff?
- Is there a moral difference between unpaid labor performed by one's own children and paid labor performed by children who are not members of one's family?
- Which family model is a better analogy for citizens living under a government: parent-child, or sibling-sibling? Why?
- To what extent do cultural background, gender, class background, and disability status shape one's conceptions of good family life?
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Accommodating students with disabilities in the classroom
This project is a collaboration with Klaudia Rivera and Susan Baglieri in the School of Education at Long Island University, which serves a diverse student body in undergraduate and graduate education. In 2007 we initiated interdisciplinary conversations about developing more inclusive practices across the fields of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Special Education, and Philosophy. We interpreted our experiences in relation to multiple facets of postsecondary education. We addressed program design, classroom teaching, and ways of evaluating our students toward a vision of university teaching that acknowledges and values the spectrum of diverse students. We first presented our work at the Disability Studies in Education conference in New York in March 2008.
I argue that rather than waiving specific course requirements for students with disabilities, instructors should instead use the concept of universal design to structure all course requirements to accommodate a variety of learning approaches. For example, students' learning can be effectively assessed using oral interviews as well as written exams. I continue to test and develop innovative teaching methods that enhance all students' potential for learning philosophy, regardless of their disability status.