On the possibility and desirability of constructing a neutral conception of disability

Disagreement about the proper attitude toward disability proliferates. Yet little attention has been paid to an important meta-question, namely, whether "disability" is an essentially contested concept. If so, recent debates between bioethicists and the disability movement leadership cannot be resolved. In this essay I identify some of the presumptions that make their encounters so contentious. Much more must happen, I argue, for any discussions about disability policy and politics to be productive. Progress depends on constructing a neutral conception of disability, one that neither devalues disability nor implies that persons with disabilities are inadequate. So, first, I clear away the conceptual underbrush that makes us think our idea of disability must be value-laden. Second, I sketch some constituents of, and constraints upon, a neutral notion of disability.