What Is “Quiet” About the New Eugenics?

Abstract

AbstractIn this response to “The Quiet Progress of the New Eugenics,” I explore the nature of the silences surrounding practices aimed at ending the lives of people with IDD. Taking as a point of departure philosopher Michel Foucault's claim that silence can be productive, and that it is intimately connected to various strategies and power relations that govern discourse, I ask: What silences and absences permeate these fields of inquiry, techniques, and technologies? Whose voices are heard and with what authority? And, how do the authors reveal and break these silences and make room for more voices? I begin by identifying the ways that the authors unmask the connections between these practices and the “old’ eugenics and reveal the underlying assumption that the lives of people of IDD are of poor quality. I then explore three groups whose voices have been silenced or absent: people with IDD who can speak for themselves; people with IDD and other cognitive disabilities who are unable to speak for themselves; and those who are closely connected to people with IDD. I conclude by pointing to further questions and distinctions that are important to address when evaluating and responding to practices aimed at ending the lives of people with IDD.