AMERICAN ACADEMY OF  DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY

 “We are a single flock under the care of a single shepherd. There is no separate Church for persons with disabilities. Each person is created in God’s image, yet there are variations \in individual abilities.”1

POPULATION

51.2 million U.S. residents (18% of the population) have some level of disability, including 32.5 million with a severe disability, 4 million children (11% of children ages 6 to 14 years).2

The Catholic Church is the largest single religious denomination in the U.S. with 68 million members. The United States has the fourth largest Catholic population in the world after Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines.3 There are an estimated 14-15 million Catholics with a disability (approximately 22% of the Catholic population).4

TRADITION
More than 30 years ago, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral statement regarding persons with disabilities which continues as its standard. “To exclude members (with disabilities) of the parish from the celebrations of the life of the church, even by passive omission, is to deny the reality of that community.”5 “

We unequivocally oppose negative attitudes toward disability which often lead to abortion, medical rationing and
euthanasia.

Defense of the right to life implies the defense of all other rights which enable the individual with the disability to achieve the fullest measure of personal development of which he or she is capable.

 Often families are not prepared for the birth of a child with a disability or the development of impairments. Our pastoral response is to become informed about disabilities and to offer ongoing support to the family and welcome the child.”

Concept of redemption through suffering: “By the sufferings in His human nature during the Passion by which mankind was redeemed, Christ gave to all suffering… a redeeming power when accepted and offered up in union with His Passion.”7 Pope John Paul II wrote, “In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his sufferings, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ.”8

Speaking on one occasion to a group of individuals with various illnesses and disabilities, John Paul II recalled the great mercy of Christ in the many times He miraculously cured the lame, the blind, the deaf, and the leprous. He said there is an even greater miracle, a greater mercy—when Jesus gives to human suffering a supernatural value.8

CHALLENGES

What does it mean to be human? The challenge faced by the Church is in its insistence that all humans are created as the imago Dei (the image of God) when it comes to describing individuals who are born or acquired limitations in their functioning (e.g. in any of the senses, their physiology or physical functions). This principle is a key foundation of the sanctity of life and the care that is taken from the time of procreation to the final moments of life.9 While the Church has integrated many with disabilities into the life of the Church, “…the inability of those with intellectual disability (in particular severe cognitive impairment) (sic)…has challenged Church approaches to administering rites and its expectations of those it counts as communicants.”9 Nevertheless, the sense that all humans are formed by God in order to develop in both mind and body toward final perfection (that is life with God) is a basic foundation  in secular and religious education of those with intellectual
and learning difficulties.9

SANCTITY OF LIFE

In the beginning: There is no support within Catholic teach-ing or guidance for gestational screening or interference in the conception process (e.g. in vitro fertilization) in order to avoid disabling conditions or
to end a pregnancy (abortion) where the fetus exhibits some impairment. The issues of rape, incestual conceptions and the words of pro-life and pro-abortion advocates fill myriads of articles, treatises and legal decisions and entangle discussions of fetal abnormalities. Throughout this discourse, the Catholic Church
has steadfastly maintained the sanctity of life of the child, with the rare exception of the need to maintain the life of the mother. There are instances in which it is legitimate for an expectant mother to undergo certain medical or surgical procedures that will save her life, even if these procedures inevitably involve the death of her unborn child. “In these cases it is not a question of intentionally aborting the child. They involve, rather, accepting the loss of the child as an unavoidable consequence of caring for the mother’s health. The clearest and surest example is the ectopic pregnancy.”10 The normal procedure in this case is the removal of the fallopian tube, from which the death of the unborn child inevitably follows. “In this case the death of the child is not sought, nor is the mother’s life saved by the child’s dying.”10 Catholic law specifically requires the provision of all relevant sacraments to a child, even if its life will be particularly short. Throughout Catholic literature there is recognition given to the important insights those with disabilities have to offer the general community and the Church itself. “In the Christian context it is perhaps best placed to truly affirm those with disabilities in their humanity and worth as a person created in the image of God—this with inherent worth.”9

In the final stages: Euthanasia is the deliberate act of putting an end to an individual’s life for the purpose of ending the patient’s suffering; whether as a result of an illness or disability. Physician assisted suicide is the death of an individuals as a direct consequence of “help” by a physician. Once again, the Church “…holds that a man is created in the image of God and therefore human life has an intrinsic dignity, sanctity and is inviolable… the principle that one should never kill an innocent human is based on this very dignity and sanctity.”11

LASTLY

It is in the Christian context that the Catholic Church affirms that individuals with disabilities in their humanity and worth as a person created in the image of God is thus with inherent dignity and worth. “Just as Jesus called (upon) those who were outcasts, uneducated and outside the mainstream…(are analogous today to) those with disabilities (who are) emerging from groups forging new ways to experience and value each other’s humanity.”9

H. Barry Waldman, DDS, MPH, PhD, is a Distinguished Teaching Professor in the
Department of General Dentistry at Stony Brook University, NY. Dolores
Cannella, PhD is Director, Behavioral Sciences, and Assistant Professor in the
Department of General Dentistry at Stony Brook University. Steven P. Perlman,
DDS, MScD, DHL (Hon) is the Global Clinical Director, Special Olympics, Special
Smiles, and a Clinical Professor of Pediatric Dentistry at The Boston University
Goldman School of Dental Medicine. He also has a private pediatric dentistry
practice in Lynn, MA.

References
1. Welcome and justice for persons with disabilities: a framework of access and inclusion.A statement of U.S. Bishops. Web site: http://www.usccb.org/doctrine/disabilities.shtml Accessed August 4, 2010.

2. Disabled in action. Web site: http://www.disabledinaction.org/census_stats_print.html Accessed August 2, 2010.

3. Catholic Church in the United States. Web site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_the_United_States Accessed August 5, 2010.

4. Diocese of Buffalo. Spiritual resources for persons with disabilities. Web site: http://www.buffalodiocese.org/outreach/disabilities/tabid/211/default.aspx Accessed August 4, 2010.

5. Berggren K. Finding their place in parish life: Catholics with disabilities and their families
strive for full inclusion. National Catholic Reporter, Nov. 18, 2005 Web site:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_5_42/ai_n16100866/#comments Accessed August
4, 2010.

6. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Welcome and justice for persons with disabilities;
a framework of access and inclusion: a statement of the U.S. bishops. Web site:
http://www.usccb.org/doctrine/disabilities.shtml Accessed August 4, 2010.

7. Duffner PA. Redemptive suffering. The Rosary Right & Life.49(2). Web site:
http://pacifier.org/~rosarweb/ll49n2.htm Accessed August 5, 2010.

8. Apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II. Web site: http://www.vatican .
va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvificidoloris_
en.html Accessed August 5, 2010.

9. Walker L. Catholic bioethics and an understanding of disability: 2009. Web site:
http:www.tech4life.com.au/files/disabilitycatholicc_Iwassign2009.pdf Accessed August 6, 2010.

10. Rearden PH. Catholic.net. Life and family/life and bioethics. Abortion and the mother’s life.
Web site: http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=dedestaca&id=177 Accessed August 4, 2010.

11. Catholic culture. Euthanasia and assisted suicide. Web site:
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=6692 Accessed August 4, 2010