Voice of the people

Mazagri's ideas are inappropriate

While I can generally understand where Dr. Mazagri is coming from regarding disabilities, his linking being able to have sex with being able to work is inappropriate on several levels.

The Social Security Administration counts a disability as "severe" and thus qualifying for benefits if it "significantly limit[s] your ability to do basic work activities - such as lifting, standing, walking, sitting, and remembering - for at least 12 months." Many people who are considered mentally or physically disabled by this metric still enjoy being in a relationship and starting a family. An attempt of the government to limit sex or procreation of the consenting adults of this group would be a gross violation of their personal rights.

The U.S. already has a terrible history of coercive sterilization practices in the recent past, with tens of thousands of people forcefully sterilized due to state-sanctioned discriminatory eugenics policies.

These policies often targeted those with mental and physical disabilities, as well as racial and ethnic minorities, and were often done in the name of "public health." It is imperative that health professionals learn from the past and do their best to avoid rhetoric that would seem to choose who should be allowed to have children.

On the other side of this topic is the fact that people with disabilities are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse because of associated socioeconomic factors. The West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services reports that people with disabilities are at a significantly higher risk for sexual coercion than the non-disabled.

Lack of resources, accessibility, and increased likelihood of social isolation are all contributing factors that can affect this. Reproductive coercion is also a characteristic of abusive relationships.

Both of these issues show how unwise it would be to base any sort of "worthiness" for disability benefits on sex or procreation.

Megan Ross

Charleston