The Discordant Notions of Human Dignity Undermining the Aspirations of Disability Law

In Pursuit of Virtue and Knowledge, Catholic Law’s Center for Law and the Human Person Hosts Inaugural Conference | Tuesday, March 14, 2023:
Expanding on Graw Leary’s exposition of a stigma’s power, lecturer Elizabeth Schiltz, Herrick Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN), focused on “The Discordant Notions of Human Dignity Undermining the Aspirations of Disability Law.” Schiltz explored the educative function of law, in which law shapes the conduct of individuals and society, in the context of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Schiltz described the dissonance between the anthropological foundation of the protective measures promulgated by the ADA and the visible reality of those affected by the ADA. The notion of human dignity underlying the ADA assumes that such dignity derives from autonomy and the related capacity to reason and choose independently. A sizeable number of people with disabilities, however, suffer from infirmities that impair their capacity for autonomy and reasoned decision-making. As result, Schiltz concluded, protections of persons with disabilities should seek not necessarily to empower autonomy but to assist those persons in their current and real contexts. Those protections should recognize that one’s dignity does not arise only from autonomy and individuality but also from recognizing one’s vulnerability and dependence on others and God.