Dear Rosy,
This is an area that I had looked into a few years back. Please do let me know what you find linking Habermas to our field as I would like to engage in a dialogue with you about this as well. One key question that he asks in his last piece is, "What is a life worth living?" As a scholar and advocate, I have written about accommodations, independent living, autonomy, choice, freedom, and citizenship, but I think that the real answer to Habermas comes from Sen (1999) who said that we should strive to give each person the capability to live the type of life they have reason to value.
As a person with a severe disability, as a person who uses a ventilator, as an ethnic minority, as an immigrant as a scholar, artist, filmmaker, mentor, youth advocate, husband and friend, I have discovered that there are increasing numbers of folks in the disability community that are in deed living the types of lives they have reason to value. Exchanging ideas, exercising agency, participating in public life is part of the equation, and Habermas does address these points. The reality however, is that we the readers of this blog are in the minority, meaning that the overwhelming majority of the 600 million persons with disabilities (because of failed policy approaches and oppressive social structures) may not have the capabilities to live the type of lives they have reason to value. The focus has to be put back on governance and participation as well as into the resources that eliminate barriers (and act as facilitators) for improving employment and participation outcomes for persons with disabilities.
Best,
Victor Pineda, MCP, PhD
Urban Planning
Luskin School for Public Affairs
UCLA
human rights scholar
Twitter: @victorpineda
Skype: victorpineda2
On Feb 23, 2011, at 7:49 AM, Rosy Dorfman wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Do you know of any articles or books that apply Habermas's theories to the field of disability theory and/or practice? I haven't been able to find any, so it would be very helpful if you could let me know if you've come across any such applications of Habermas. My email is [log in to unmask]
>
> Many Thanks,
> Rosy
>
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