Reconsidering Intellectual Disability: L’Arche, Medical Ethics, and Christian Friendship

304 Pages·2015·3.089 MB·English

by  Jason Reimer Greig

Reconsidering Intellectual Disability
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Reconsidering
Intellectual
DIsabIlIt y
L’Arche, MedicAL ethics, And
christiAn Friendship
Jason Reimer Greig
Georgetown university Press / Washington, Dc
© 2015 Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Greig, Jason Reimer, author
Reconsidering intellectual disability : l’Arche, medical ethics, and Christian
friendship / Jason Reimer Greig.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 1- 62616- 242- 6 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 1- 62616- 243- 3 (pb :
alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 1- 62616- 244- 0 (eb)
1. People with mental disabilities—Care—Moral and ethical aspects.
2. People with mental disabilities—Medical care—Moral and ethical aspects.
3. Medical ethics—Religious aspects—Christianity. 4. Arche (Association)
5. Church work with people with mental disabilities.  I. Title.
HV3004.G734 2016
362.3'575—dc23 2015003379
∞ This book is printed on acid- free paper meeting the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library
Materials.
16 15 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 First printing
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
Illustration of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet courtesy of iStock
For David, Brian, Angus, and all those in L’Arche
who welcomed me into their lives, and recognized me as friend.
This is your book.
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Contents
Introduction 1
1 a new approach to an Old Dilemma:
the ashley treatment and Its Respondents 19
2 exposing the Power of Medicine through
a christian body Politics 49
3 Disability, society, and theology:
the benefits and limitations of the social
Model of Disability 82
4 no longer slaves but Friends:
social Recognition and
the Power of Friendship 114
5 the church as a community of Friends:
embodying the strange Politics of the
Kingdom 158
6 beholding the Politics of the Impossible:
l’arche as an embodiment of the church as
a community of Friends 201
conclusion 245
bibliography 259
Index 279
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IntroduCtIon
Our moral deliverance lies not in our hands, but in the
hands of another, ultimately, to be sure, in the hands of God.
and what sometimes makes this so disenchanting is that the
ones who can do the most for us are precisely the ones most
different from ourself, the ones who come into our world with
a goodness we may even fear.
—Paul J. Wadell, Friendship and the Moral Life
christian freedom is the freedom of being drawn into the
divine communion: to be God’s friends, and thus to be friends
with others.
—Hans s. Reinders, Receiving the Gift of Friendship:
Profound Disability, Theological Anthropology, and Ethics
In early 2004 the parents of six-y ear- old ashley X were faced with
the prospect of her early puberty. because ashley’s embodiment
includes profound intellectual and physical impairments, along
with the continual use of a wheelchair, she remained highly
dependent on her parents for all personal care. thus ashley’s
parents chose to implement therapy for their daughter that
would prematurely stop her physical growth. they decided on
this treatment in consultation with her medical specialists and
the ethics committee of the seattle children’s Hospital. In addi-
tion to attenuation therapy to restrict her growth, further treat-
ments included the surgical removal of her breast buds and
uterus. the combination of these medical interventions became
popularly known as the ashley treatment (at).
Why did ashley’s parents make this decision? they did so
because, given her severe disability, they were at the limit of their
ability to physically care for her and keep her at home.1 they
1