The Latimer case has been a eye opening case for Canadians and especially persons with disabilities. In this assignment, first a summary then an analysis will be made of Yvonne Peters' 'Reflections on the Latimer case: The Rational for a disability right lens' where she provides us with her opinion and critique on the Latimer case.
The Latimer case is about a Saskatchewan man, Robert Latimer, that was charged with the murder of his disabled 12 year old daughter, Tracy Latimer. This case caused a public-wide debate on wether it was legally or morally acceptable for a father to take the life of his severely disabled daughter. Peters' mentions that the way individuals assess the case is based on what “lens” a person looks through1. First 'the punishment lens' challenges the rigidity of the Criminal Code based on the Latimer Case, then the 'sympathy
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First, 'Disability as a Social Construct', where her main argument is that “much of disability-based discrimination and disadvantage stems from the way society treats persons with disabilities rather then individual limitations”3. Then she continues on to 'Exclusion form the Workplace' where she argues that discriminating persons with disabilities from the workplace has become a norm, the response was to “remove individuals with disabilities from the community and into institutions of all kinds, including work houses, asylums, hospitals,prisons, and special schools” 4. Her third claim Disability as a Mental Defect, she introduces Jerome Bickenbach who observed that “the most commonly held belief about disablement is that it involves a defect, deficiency, dysfunction, abnormality, failing, or medical 'problem'”5. Peters last claim is The Shift to a disability Equality Rights