Disability, Ethics, and Biotechnology

SUMMARY

This paper was originally presented in memory of Jennifer Fitzgerald, as an address at a Queensland conference. Jennifer Fitzgerald was a lawyer and writer working in the 1990s with Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (QAI), an independent, community-based systems advocacy and legal advocacy organisation for people with disability in Queensland, Australia. As QAI's first bioethics advocacy worker, Jenny insightfully identified the threats posed by areas of biotechnology, for people with disability. Her works include a collection of papers on ethical issues facing people with disability, and “Include Me In: Disability Rights and the Law in Queensland” (1994). She was also a published participant of the first conference on Disability, Health and Spirituality held in Brisbane in 1996.

Key Words:

• Ethics
• disability
• biotechnology
• bioethics