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Valuing Special Needs as a Gift to Society

Description

An unspoken premise behind the pursuit of biotechnology often seems to be that the ideal society would be one that had eliminated all suffering. When suffering, in turn, is defined expansively to include any deviation from typical human abilities, or as creating some level of inconvenience for others, a natural next step is to seek to eliminate persons with disabilities or special needs. “Ideally” this elimination is pursued early in the reproductive process, so that we never have persons in our midst who require special dimensions of care. But is this truly the society we want? Only if we are willing to discard human lives for the sake of the idols of productivity and efficiency.

We’re interested in ventures that activate new storytelling movements, employ those with special needs, and work with leaders in medical ethics to protect all human beings in our communities from their conception to their natural death.

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Praxis Ventures

Ventures within the Praxis community working on this ORI.

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Jill's House

provides short-term, overnight respite care for families around the country, raising kids ages 6-17 with intellectual disabilities (Cameron Doolittle, Nonprofit 2014).

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Brookwood in Georgetown

is a vocational community that empowers adults with special needs (“citizens”) to become artisans, bakers, gardeners, and other kinds of craftspersons (Jennie Thollander & Erin Kiltz, Nonprofit 2019).

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