Mich: Should we give preference to Rogini? An ethical perspective on disability, health inequalities and work

Jacques Tamin (Hoover Fellow)
Should we give preference to Rogini? An ethical perspective on disability, health inequalities and work In his book Development as freedom, Amartya Sen describes a conundrum where one has to choose to whom we offer a job, and therefore some income, out of three poor unemployed labourers. Rogini is not the poorest of the three, but she is debilitated from a chronic ailment, which could be alleviated by the income. Should her chronic health condition and disability sway us to preferentially treat Rogini? I will argue that we should “give preference to Rogini”, that is, we should ameliorate mismatches between the capabilities of people with disabilities (PwD) and the socially constructed environment. There is evidence that “good” work can be health enhancing (e.g. Waddell and Burton 2006), so there is a prima facie case for encouraging those with chronic health conditions and disabilities to work. However, PwD have greater difficulties in accessing “good” work, and opportunities to improve their health. The capability approach has been used in the context of disability (Mitra 2017) and health (Venkatapuram 2011). My project aims to provide an ethical framework for critical reflection in the areas of disability, health inequalities and work.