Moral Issues in Mental Retardation

First published in 1985. Despite the vast number of books available on mental handicap, there had been little published about moral, philosophical or ethical issues. Yet such issues must be faced and indeed answered, either explicitly or implicitly, before any system of education or care for mentally handicapped people can be put into practice. This book reviews a number of issues in this field. Key topics addressed include: respect for retarded people; the notion of equal rights; terminating the lives of severely handicapped infants; and genetic engineering. With the current emphasis on recognising the rights and needs of the handicapped as individuals, this book should represent an important review and be of interest to all concerned with mentally handicapped people.

Acknowledgments; Preface; Contributors; Introduction: The Philosophy of Special Education Ronald S. Laura and Adrian F. Ashman; 1. Equal Human Rights and Employment for Mentally Retarded Persons Michael D. Bayles 2. Ambivalence of Attitude to the Mentally Retarded R. S. Downie 3. The Ethics of De-institutionalisation and Afterwards Susan C. Hayes 4. Mental Retardation and Paternalist Control R. F. Khan 5. Psychosurgery and the Mentally Retarded John Kleinig 6. Can We Avoid Assigning Greater Value to Some Human Lives Than to Others? Peter Singer 7. Infanticide Bonnie Steinbock 8. Long Days of Journeys into Night: The Tragedy of the Handicapped at Risk Infant George P. Smith III 9. Genetics and Mental Retardation Jacquelyn and K. Kegley 10. Mental Retardation and Genetic Engineering Ronald S. Laura 11. Rights, Interests, and Mental Handicap Ronald S. Laura and Adrian F. Ashman