https://doi.org/10.21697/fp.2016.1.02
For many centuries, people with physical and mental disabilities were regarded as an inferior species who did not even deserve to live. Such attitudes led to the emergence of a number of stereotypes, which gave rise to discrimination. Although Christianity changed the overall attitude to people with disabilities, in practice the shift was only superficial. Contempt was replaced by mercy, spawning a rich tradition of begging based on compassion and almsgiving, some of the main tenets of this religion. Actual changes aimed at the integration of disabled people did not arrive until the last century but their pace varied between countries and they were sometimes impeded by a complete reversal in this regard, as in Nazi Germany.
In Poland, the integration of disabled people through their education and rehabilitation was started in the interwar period, and the years of the People’s Republic of Poland gave such actions an even greater intensity. However, only after 1989 was a pro-integration policy developed, which was aimed not only at education and rehabilitation, but also the standardisation of the living conditions of disabled people. After 25 years of this policy, changes both in the functioning of disabled people and in the attitudes towards them are noticeable. However, difficult and controversial axiological issues still remain unsolved, being either undetermined or completely neglected both in academic studies and in social discourse. The last stage of the integration processes, which I call post-integration, is the time to address and publicise these issues, and look for optimal solutions. This compilation presents three such issues, i.e. the sexuality of people with disabilities, the abortion of a foetus with birth defects, and the right to receive help with terminating life by people who are physically unable to do so.
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