Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The Capacity Contract brings much-needed insights to both political theory and disability studies. Its original analysis calls for the fuller recognition of the contributions of the intellectually disabled and their social inclusion as citizens."—Kristin Bumiller, Amherst College
"Most political theorists would agree with Rawls that citizens need to possess cognitive capacities ‘within some normal range,’ but Stacy Clifford Simplican argues that such a ‘capacity contract’ is wrong. She provokes us to disrupt these norms."—Joan Tronto, University of Minnesota
"A very interesting read."—Catholic Medical Quarterly
"Simplican presents a rich analysis of the role of capacity in classic political philosophy and offers a significant contribution to the field. "—Disability Studies Quarterly
"The Capacity Contract should be required reading not just for political theorists but for everybody conscientious about being alerted to unconscious patterns of bias and exclusion in their everyday lives and practices."—The Review of Politics
Table of ContentsContents
Abbreviations
Introduction: Anxiety, Democracy, and Disability
1. Locke’s Capacity Contract and the Construction of Idiocy
2. Manufacturing Anxiety: The Medicalization of Mental Defect
3. The Disavowal of Disability in Contemporary Contract Theory
4. Rethinking Political Agency: Arendt and the Self-Advocacy Movement
5. Self-Advocates and Allies Becoming Empowered
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
