tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post6800865249290812731..comments2024-03-16T16:44:18.220-07:00Comments on Bad Cripple: Happy 23rd Birthday to the ADA: Oh and People with a Disability Still Get Screwedwilliam Peacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-41614617897355800742013-07-29T16:05:29.129-07:002013-07-29T16:05:29.129-07:00And therein lies the problem. "Technical comp...And therein lies the problem. "Technical compliance " has seldom had anything to do with actual, livable,access. I am sorry Pope seems to have vanished. I feel this reflects poorly indeed upon him.Nessie Silerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09490002851377536015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-14015509119955200022013-07-29T14:30:47.494-07:002013-07-29T14:30:47.494-07:00Stephen, I do not in any way question your assessm...Stephen, I do not in any way question your assessment of Singer and his being contradictory. Obviously I disagree with much of what he writes. The same can be said for what other utilitarian philosophers produce. I simply refuse to engage Singer because I am put into an inferior position--one must start by asserting why my life has value. I also choose to leave any scholar's family life alone. <br />As for the ASBH, I am shocked and angry. Pope's effort to help appears to have vanished. He contends the ASBH is technically in compliance with the ADA. william Peacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-51956774606683995412013-07-28T17:02:34.304-07:002013-07-28T17:02:34.304-07:00My thoughts run along similar lines to Lynn's....My thoughts run along similar lines to Lynn's. I'd find it useful and *helpful* if Prof. Pope, as a member of the program committee, could offer up an explanation why ASBH has failed to offer and/or communicate in regard to disability accommodations for attendees and presenters - accommodations and communications that have been standard at major (and not so major) conferences for years if not decades. Obviously, the ASBH members with an "affinity" re: "disability ethics" haven't haven't thought about conference accessibility as a place to start.Stephen Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02923726151589524620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-83327764404815074502013-07-28T16:09:55.546-07:002013-07-28T16:09:55.546-07:00The story on Singer and his mother is contradictor...The story on Singer and his mother is contradictory and confusing; frankly, Singer seems to have worked somewhat to make it so. Forgive me for promoting something I wrote a few years ago, but here's a link and an excerpt from something I wrote that lays out Singer's conflicting stories about his mother - and the timing regarding their rollout. (go to link for formatting, links, etc.) - <br /><br />http://www.notdeadyet.org/2008/03/peter-singer-slippery-mind.html<br /><br />Contrary to what both detractors and fans of Singer might think, it’s not all that unusual for Singer to say one thing in a given setting only to modify it or contradict it in another. Most people don’t keep track of the times he’ll concede points in a debate, only to “forget” that he conceded them when in front of another audience. Singer seems to rely on the fact that most people don’t keep track of his contradictions and inconsistencies.<br /><br />This pattern became evident even as he first came to Princeton. And it came with his conflicting accounts of a situation he faced with his own mother. In 1999, Michael Specter wrote in the New Yorker that Peter Singer spent money to support his mother, who had advanced Alzheimer’s – and the apparent contradiction of him providing that care in the face of Singer’s views on personhood.<br /><br />Singer’s comments, which became widely circulated in subsequent coverage of him, explained the contradiction this way:<br /><br /> Singer has spent his career trying to lay down rules for human behavior which are divorced from emotion and intuition. His is a world that makes no provision for private aides to look after addled, dying old women. Yet he can’t help himself. “I think this has made me see how the issues of someone with these kinds of problems are really very difficult,” he said quietly. “Perhaps it is more difficult than I thought before, because it is different when it’s your mother.” (emphasis added)<br /><br />This was a “humanizing” portrait of Singer – although sometimes used to brand him a hypocrite as well.<br /><br />Whether or not Singer is a hypocrite, it’s clear that he unpacks certain statements, revelations and positions at times that certainly seem aimed to please the audience in front of him. How else to explain the December 2000 interview with Ronald Bailey in Reason Magazine that gave a very different account of why Peter Singer’s mother got the support she needed to live even with advanced dementia:<br /><br /> Rigorous adherence to a single principle has a way of hoisting one by one’s own petard. Singer’s mother suffers from severe Alzheimer’s disease, and so she no longer qualifies as a person by his own standards, yet he spends considerable sums on her care. This apparent contradiction of his principles has not gone unnoticed by the media. When I asked him about it during our interview at his Manhattan apartment in late July, he sighed and explained that he is not the only person who is involved in making decisions about his mother (he has a sister). He did say that if he were solely responsible, his mother might not be alive today. (emphasis added)<br /><br />(Note: Singer’s sister is Joan Dwyer, a lawyer whose career has involved strident advocacy for people with significant disabilities, some of which she writes about in the Law Review article “Access to Justice for People with Severe Communication Impairment.”<br /><br />The statements in the Bailey interview did not get circulated in the media – and the earlier story of it “being different when it’s your mother” still plays out in most people’s background knowledge of Singer.<br /><br />But if you follow his articles and speaking gigs closely, it probably won’t be long until you’ll find your own examples of Singer blithely contradicting himself and hoping the audience has either the ignorance or the good manners not to notice.Stephen Drakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02923726151589524620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-8694482825414468092013-07-28T12:33:20.375-07:002013-07-28T12:33:20.375-07:00A. We have no insight into Singer's family lif...A. We have no insight into Singer's family life. Perhaps he advocated for his rigid utilitarian views. Perhaps his siblings forced him to support their mother. This is way too speculative. Based on what I have read Singer follows what he preaches. He is vegan for instance nor is he wealthy. I for one will stick to Singer's written work and leave his private life alone. william Peacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-63217693544894348022013-07-28T11:03:36.838-07:002013-07-28T11:03:36.838-07:00I don't see that it is mean-spirited.
My inten...I don't see that it is mean-spirited.<br />My intention was to emphasize that he chose not to adhere to the rigid views prescribed for others. That he took care of his ailing mother is, to me, laudable, and a personal decision. Maybe whether philosophers walk their talk is irrelevant to the ideas they present. Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06318174928862120631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-80498413148602890512013-07-28T05:52:40.023-07:002013-07-28T05:52:40.023-07:00A. The reference to Peter Singer's mother is m...A. The reference to Peter Singer's mother is mean spirited and not at all appropriate. I am no fan of Singer or other utilitarian philosophers but personal attacks are never acceptable to me. william Peacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-1479608035678175362013-07-27T14:11:35.286-07:002013-07-27T14:11:35.286-07:00Peter Singer should always be referenced with his ...Peter Singer should always be referenced with his own words as a middle name. Peter It-is-different- when-it's-your-mother Singer. Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06318174928862120631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-29919999257083896392013-07-27T13:48:39.380-07:002013-07-27T13:48:39.380-07:00Thaddeus, I will communicate with you via email.
L...Thaddeus, I will communicate with you via email.<br />Lynn, The ASBH is quite unusual in that they ignore the existence of the ADA. I suspect many medically oriented societies do the same thing due the prevalence of the medical model of disability. Most academic organizations in the social sciences meet the requirements of the ADA. As you know all too well violations of the ADA abound. william Peacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-42841766276359187162013-07-27T12:28:22.447-07:002013-07-27T12:28:22.447-07:00I suppose it shows a lack of intellectual sophisti...I suppose it shows a lack of intellectual sophistication on my part that I find this acceptance of exclusion and indifference incongruous in the context of a professional focus upon ethics.<br /><br />I'm glad to see that Thad is stepping up to advocate for you, but agree with you that it shouldn't take personal connections and an education campaign to achieve what should be, 23 years post-ADA, a no-brainer.Lynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03274978908688510739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-36374267213242243432013-07-27T08:36:31.659-07:002013-07-27T08:36:31.659-07:00Bill, I am on the program committee. Please let m...Bill, I am on the program committee. Please let me know with whom you have communicated about this. I will follow-up. -- ThadThaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03559981121040578536noreply@blogger.com