Discussions of the “Not So Fit”: How Ableism Limits Diverse Thought and Investigative Potential in Evolutionary Biology

Branch, Haley A.; Klingler, Amanda; Byers, Kelsey; Panofsky, Aaron; Peers, Danielle

doi:10.1086/720003

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…This reading of Darwin's work and the inventors of "social Darwinism" (Galton, Spencer, Huxley, Malthus) is not new. Many scholars have related this kind of "social human natural selection" to ableism (see Branch et al, 2022 for a recent overview). This term was coined in the early nineteen eighties and points to the "discrimination against people who are not able-bodied, or an assumption that it is necessary to cater only for able-bodied people" (Honderich, 2005).…”

Section: Disability From An Evolutionary Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Caring for people with disability and human growth: evolutionary perspectives and contribution to psychological wellbeing

Bernacer

2024

Front. Psychol.

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From an evolutionary point of view, organisms with mutations resulting in maladaptation are an unavoidable result of genetic variability, and they do not usually survive natural selection. Thus, they do not produce benefits for the species. I contend that this is different in humans at two levels. First, the existence of people with disability has been essential for human growth as a species. Human ancestors' evolving cognitive and social abilities were boosted by caring for vulnerable members of the species, including premature offspring and people with disability. Therefore, caregiving was an essential trait of the evolution of humans, intertwined with the development of bipedalism, the hand, face, vocal apparatus, and brain. Second, caring for disability is also a source of growth at a personal level. Even though most scientific literature focuses on the stress and burden caused by caring for people with disability, there is solid evidence to accept caregiving as a source of happiness and flourishing for human beings. Hence, disability still has an essential role in improving human life nowadays. Contrary to this evidence, influential utilitarian bioethicists promote the elimination of disability from modern societies. Following the arguments presented here, this will lead to the withering of society. In conclusion, disability should be acknowledged as an essential source of growth for the human species.

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Section: Disability From An Evolutionary Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Caring for people with disability and human growth: evolutionary perspectives and contribution to psychological wellbeing

Bernacer

2024

Front. Psychol.

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“…As biologists, we seek to understand the vast diversity of life in all its wonderful forms—yet the lens we use fundamentally shapes that which we can observe. The historical legacies of sexism, racism, queerphobia, and ableism have deeply influenced the frameworks we use to study nature ( Branch et al 2022 ; Graves et al 2022 ; Kamath et al 2022 ), and the exclusion of certain groups of people from the scientific enterprise has delayed important discoveries such as the prevalence of female bird song ( Haines et al 2020 ) and the existence of hemiclitores in snakes ( Folwell et al 2022a , 2022b ). Challenging these foundations is difficult but vital to both increasing inclusion in biology ( Hales 2020 ; Casper et al 2022 ) and dismantling assumptions that interfere with our ability to observe and interpret the natural world ( Monk et al 2019 ; Ahnesjö et al 2020 ; Kamath et al 2022 ; Packer and Lambert 2022 ).…”

Section: The Interplay Of Science and Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

Multivariate Models of Animal Sex: Breaking Binaries Leads to a Better Understanding of Ecology and Evolution

McLaughlin

Brock

Gates

et al. 2023

Integrative and Comparative Biology

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‘Sex’ is often used to describe a suite of phenotypic and genotypic traits of an organism related to reproduction. However, these traits – gamete type, chromosomal inheritance, physiology, morphology, behavior, etc. – are not necessarily coupled, and the rhetorical collapse of variation into a single term elides much of the complexity inherent in sexual phenotypes. We argue that consideration of ‘sex’ as a constructed category operating at multiple biological levels opens up new avenues for inquiry in our study of biological variation. We apply this framework to three case studies that illustrate the diversity of sex variation, from decoupling sexual phenotypes to the evolutionary and ecological consequences of intrasexual polymorphisms. We argue that instead of assuming binary sex in these systems, some may be better categorized as multivariate and nonbinary. Finally, we conduct a meta-analysis of terms used to describe diversity in sexual phenotypes in the scientific literature to highlight how a multivariate model of sex can clarify, rather than cloud, studies of sexual diversity within and across species. We argue that such an expanded framework of ‘sex’ better equips us to understand evolutionary processes, and that as biologists it is incumbent upon us to push back against misunderstandings of the biology of sexual phenotypes that enact harm on marginalized communities.

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“…In many settings, conversations around abnormalities, impairments, and disability have become more sophisticated, as scientists, scholars, and advocates have challenged scientific fields to rethink normative definitions of fitness, health, and disability (Branch, Klingler, Byers, Panofsky, & Peers, 2022). In the poster Vincent considers after the performance, the pianist's 12 fingers cover his face, suggesting his feeling of shame in Gattaca's world of physical conformity.…”

Section: Blair Underwoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

GATTACA AS A LENS ON CONTEMPORARY GENETICS Marking 25 years into the film’s “not-too-distant” future

Ogbunugafor¹,

Edge²

2022

Preprint

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The 1997 film Gattaca has emerged as a canonical pop culture reference used to discuss modern contro-versies in genetics and bioethics. It appeared in theaters a few years prior to the announcement of the“completion” of the human genome (2000), as the science of human genetics was developing a renewedsense of its social implications. The story is set in a near-future world in which parents can, with tech-nological assistance, influence the genetic composition of their offspring on the basis of predicted lifeoutcomes. This moment—25 years after the film’s release—offers an opportunity to reflect on where so-ciety currently stands with respect to the ideas explored in Gattaca. Here, we review and discuss severalactive areas of genetic research—genetic prediction, embryo selection, forensic genetics, and others–thatinterface directly with scenes and concepts in the film. On its silver anniversary, we argue that Gattacaremains an important reflection of society’s expectations and fears with respect to the ways that geneticscience has manifested in the real world. In an accompanying appendix, we offer some thought questionsto guide group discussions inside and outside of the classroom.

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Discussions of the “Not So Fit”: How Ableism Limits Diverse Thought and Investigative Potential in Evolutionary Biology

Cited by 10 publications

References 83 publications

Caring for people with disability and human growth: evolutionary perspectives and contribution to psychological wellbeing

Caring for people with disability and human growth: evolutionary perspectives and contribution to psychological wellbeing

Multivariate Models of Animal Sex: Breaking Binaries Leads to a Better Understanding of Ecology and Evolution

GATTACA AS A LENS ON CONTEMPORARY GENETICS Marking 25 years into the film’s “not-too-distant” future

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