Duties and decency.

Abstract

Though we should help improve the lives of those with disabilities, it is not because we owe them help. The paper begins with a discussion of some features of disabilities: they are defining, ubiquitous, mutable, context dependent, and normative. The moral meaning of "owing" is analyzed and sources of moral duties set out and related to the moral claims of the disabled. Finally the paper suggests that decency--a minimal concern for the welfare of those whose lot we can improve--is a richer way to explain the moral propriety of helping the handicapped.