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The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Islamic Tradition: The question of legal capacity in focus

GHALY, Mohammed
2019

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Legal capacity of persons with mental disabilities was a con- tentious issue during the process of drafting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Arab Group, consisting of Muslim-majority countries, in the United Nations expressed reservations about the formulation of the Article related to this issue. However, their reservations were dis- missed because they arguably had to do with language-specificity. The author revisits these deliberations and argues that the reservations of the Arab countries have to do with reli- gious aspects rooted in the Islamic tradition. By ignoring these religious aspects, the Disability Convention missed a rich source of wisdom provided by a world religion like Islam. On the other hand, the innovative insights provided by the Disability Convention can be of value to improve contemporary discussions on legal capacity within the Islamic tradition. Unlike the previous studies, which either focused on the approach of the Disability Convention or that of the Islamic tradition, this study examines both approaches and highlights the points of agree- ment and disagreement and finally proposes suggestions for narrowing the existing gap between these two approaches.

‘Power-Hurt’: The Pains of Kindness Among Disabled Karen Refugees in Thailand

COLE, Tomas
2019

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In this paper I show how, for many Karen living as refugees in ‘temporary-shelter-areas’ in Thailand, acts of care and kindness often slipped into something painful and controlling. Drawing on fieldwork among Karen refugees disabled by landmines I show how asking for and receiving help was almost always accompanied by the visceral sensation of ana, literally, ‘power hurt’. On the one hand, ana was the force driving the circulation of care and kindness, provoking people to help others. On the other hand this circulation also carried with it the constant potential to compromise not only the recipient’s but also the donor’s ‘power’, which was understood as their capacity to have an effect on the world. In this manner ana may offer us with a way to grasp the ethical-affective basis of a social arrangement that slips smoothly between lateral solidarities and vertical hierarchical relations allowing egalitarianism and hierarchy to co-exist.

Rituals of knowing: rejection and relation in disability theology and Meister Eckhart

SMITH, Daniel G W
2017

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One of the most powerful claims of disability theology is that the rejection of persons with disabilities somehow correlates with a rejection of God. This ‘correlative rejection’ is, however, frequently just stated rather than explored in detail, something this article therefore seeks to remedy by examining one example of the correlative rejection that draws together the ethical concerns of theologians writing on intellectual disability with Meister Eckhart’s teaching on the human relationship with God. Here, the correla- tive rejection is exposed as an inevitable result of the narrow emphasis on autonomy and rationality in human self-perception which shape the habituated, even ritualised ways that we try to know persons with intellectual disabilities and God. By contrast, truly knowing and relating to persons with intellectual disabilities, God, and finally also ourselves, relies on a reconciliation with the dependence, vulnerability, and non-rational forms of exchange that a narrow attachment to autonomy and rationality seems directly to occlude. The correlative rejection thus signals both a practical and epistemological problem which results from how we view ourselves and how we subsequently relate to and try to know others, the harmful effects of which are both ethical and spiritual.

An Opportunity for Charity? A Catholic Tradition in Understanding Disability and Its Impact on Ministry

MASTERS, Anne
2016

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David Perry, the father of a boy with Down Syndrome, wrote an angry reaction to Pope Francis’ references to individuals and families living with disabilities in Amoris Laetitia. Perry is con- cerned about the limited perspective of persons with disabilities that is portrayed in the texts, which show families commended for their love and tolerance, with a lack of appreciation for the person with a disability as a person of interest, rather than an object of pity. He offers further reflections of caution and hope in response to words and actions of Pope Francis during a Mass celebrating disability awareness. Perry’s comments provide the starting point for reflecting on the image of persons with disabilities presented in Amoris Laetitia and a discussion of possibilities for charity to serve as a corrective for this and pastoral practice.

Oscar Pistorius and the melancholy of intersectionality

SWARTZ, Leslie
2013

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The alleged shooting by Paralympian and Olympian athlete Oscar Pistorius of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp has led to strong reactions worldwide. Scholars in the field of disability studies have expressed shock and disappointment in response both to the death itself and to its implications for the representation of disability. In South Africa in the wake of the death of Ms Steenkamp, much has been made both by critics of Pistorius and by his defenders about his status as a white South African man, but little has been said about disability issues. This silence in South Africa about disability as a possible identity factor in this case draws attention to the extent to which disability questions remain profoundly raced and gendered, and influenced by the colonial and apartheid past. The tragic alleged shooting by Oscar Pistorius draws attention back to how important intersectionality is to understanding disability in South Africa and other unequal societies.

Children with learning disabilities: A phenomenological study of the lived experiences of Iranian mothers

KERMANSHAHI, S M
VANAKI, Z
AHMADI, F
KAZEMNEJAD, A
AZADFALAH, P
2009

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Nursing as a family-oriented profession involves supporting mothers of children with learning disabilities to gain an awareness of their role. However, few studies have explored the whole experience of such mothers. This study embarks on an understanding of lived experiences of Iranian mothers who have children with learning disabilities. A qualitative approach was adopted using the phenomenology of semi-structured interviews carried out with six Iranian mothers whose children attended a special school in Tehran. The data were analysed in line with van Manen’s suggestions. Two main themes were abstracted; being the centre of stress circles and being in the midst of life and death. Themes include care management challenges for self and child, experiencing through helplessness and hopefulness and experiencing self devote and self neglect. Overall, a majority of mothers experienced a stressful life. The study concludes that Iranian mothers’ lived experience of having children with learning disabilities can be likened to the constant swing of a pendulum between two polarities of positive and negative feelings. This knowledge can provide an heuristic to help health staff guide mothers in adjusting to their children who have learning disabilities.

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