Freedom and the Handicapped: Possibility, Eligibility, Intention and Omission

In: Political studies: the journal of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom, Band 31, Heft 2, S. 264-274

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to apply an analysis of negative freedom to the position of handicapped people. Negative freedom is defined in terms of both possibility and eligibility of action and, in addition, the emphasis is placed upon the intention of human agents to restrict action (or the omission to prevent such restriction). This analysis of freedom is applied to the areas of prevention of handicap and the employment, access problems, and education of handicapped people in Britain. The conclusion is that, though we recognize that aspects of handicapping conditions inevitably restrict some activities, handicapped people are, either through intention or omission, less free than the able-bodied.