Responsible Choice: The choice between no choice

Abstract

This paper explores the way 'choice' is constituted by professional and support staff in naturally-occurring-talk within an Australian disability service. That choice is really the choice you have when you are not having a choice, a situation indicative of the wider social milieu and the disablism found in society. Membership Categorisation Analysis is used to highlight the moral reasoning which occurs in the everyday, based upon disablist norms. In light of this, critical reflection upon contemporary bioethics is used to suggest that choice as an expression of autonomy is not only contextual, but far more than the hedonistic approach adopted by Western disability services.