Disability is an issue that has faced mankind throughout the course of history, but continues to be pushed to the side. Society tries its best to avoid disabled people all together, or if that is impossible looks down on their lesser life with pity. First hand accounts of this treatment is seen in disabled authors Kenny Fries, Nancy Mairs, and Harriet McBryde-Johnson. Fries brings to light the need for society to look at disability through the social model. This model focuses on the physical and attitudinal societal barriers that exclude disabled people from the community. The disabled experience does not just stem from the physical impairment itself, but society's reaction to it as well. Mairs discusses the barrier created by society's rejection …show more content…
Singer is in favor of infanticide as an option for parents of disabled newborns, since disabled people do have a generally harder life than abled bodied people. Singer argues, “Some children with spina bifida have had forty major operations before they reach their teenage years” (Singer 5). This would clearly be traumatic to any child, and from the social model viewpoint this suffering cannot be blamed on society, but the physical impairment itself. Singer believes infanticide is the best way to help the disabled infant who in his opinion will not live a happy life, and society who will not be burdened with a non contributing and unproductive member. He argues that since people generally accept aborting fetuses that have been screened and have detected issues, they should accept infanticide since babies have the same level of consciousness as fetuses and after birth the parents have more information than they had with the fetus. Harriet McBryde-Johnson, a wheelchair bound lawyer sees Singer’s ideas as completely misguided, even though she recognizes in his reasoning, what he says is logical. She meets and discusses ideas about society’s view on disabled people and what the proper way to treat disabled community with Singer. She recounts how when talking about taking care of the unconscious, he poses the question, “‘don’t you think continuing to take care of that individual would be a bit ― weird?... what about the caregiver, a woman typically, who is forced to provide all this service to a family member, unable to work, unable to have a life of her own?” (McBryde-Johnson 9). McBryde-Johnson goes on to respond that caring for an individual in this way could be a beautiful experience, and the care should