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This scoping review aimed to map the breadth of available literature, and to understand the barriers and facilitators of return to study and education participation for students with SCI. The authors performed electronic searches of six databases for peer-reviewed articles published in English between January 1990 and March 2021. Key search terms included: spinal cord injury, students, education participation, academic reintegration, and school re-entry. Data charting was used to summarise the study characteristics. Eleven articles addressed the return to study and education participation of students with SCI. These studies used qualitative and quantitative methods and involved participants aged between 10 and 42 years. The findings addressed five main areas: importance of education, participation and performance in education, the physical environment, support network, and strategies for integration. This review shows that there is limited evidence available on this topic, mostly from small scale studies with variable quality. More research is needed to understand how best to support the educational participation and success of students with SCI. Policies targeted to mitigating barriers, including inaccessible environments and curricula, adequate information and supports, are also needed to better facilitate return to study and education participation of students with SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the debate between surrogate decision-making and supported decision-making for individuals with cognitive disabilities. Surrogate decision-making, where a guardian makes decisions on behalf of someone lacking decision-making capacity, is criticized as a violation of human rights and paternalistic. Supported decision-making, on the other hand, allows individuals to make their own decisions with assistance. The author challenges the belief that surrogate decision-making is inherently disrespectful and argues that it can sometimes express more respect for individuals with cognitive disabilities. The article also raises concerns about the moral implications of prosthetic reasoning, where someone else executes all of the reasoning for an individual with profound cognitive disabilities. The author questions the assumption that a surrogate decision-maker can fully understand and execute the reasoning of another person, particularly those with complex inner lives. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of this study was to explore the experience of people with non-traumatic spinal cord injuries who have recently returned home from inpatient rehabilitation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven adults with non-traumatic spinal cord injuries who had been discharged from inpatient rehabilitation from an Australian rehabilitation hospital, within the last two years. Three themes were identified: the practicalities of coming home; adjusting to "my altered home life"; pursuing recovery. When people felt prepared by their rehabilitation service, and had appropriate support from others, they had a more positive adjustment experience, although not one without challenges. Due to less independence and inability to participate in meaningful life roles, participants experienced a sense of lost or changed identity. Maintaining hope for physical recovery was very important and motivated participants to actively engage in rehabilitation efforts. This study adds to the knowledge regarding the lived experience of people with non-traumatic spinal cord injury transitioning from rehabilitation to home. Facilitators for successful rehabilitation discharge included ensuring community services contacted patients immediately after they left hospital, and providing support for carers. Health care workers can positively influence the adjustment process of people with NTSCI by facilitating re-engagement in meaningful roles. The transition home from inpatient rehabilitation after non-traumatic spinal cord injury (NTSCI) is facilitated by early discharge planning and follow-up from services after discharge. Establishing routines helped participants adjust to their new circumstances. The emotional and practical support of carers is vital for successful adjustment to living in the community with an NTSCI. Health care workers can positively influence the adjustment process of people with NTSCI by facilitating their re-engagement in meaningful roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with 'severe' cognitive disabilities are primarily discussed in philosophy and bioethics to determine their moral status. In this paper it is argued that theories of moral status have limited relevance to the unjust ways in which people with cognitive disabilities are routinely treated in the actual world, which largely concerns their relegation to an inferior social status. I discuss three possible relationships between moral and social status, demonstrating that determinate answers about the moral status of individuals with 'severe' cognitive disabilities are neither necessary nor sufficient for defending the imperative that they be treated as our social equals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent discussions of genetic enhancement have argued that unregulated access to genetic enhancement technology will have a mainly negative impact on equality, a development that an egalitarian approach to distributive justice should be concerned with and seek to address. I argue that the extent to which egalitarians should be concerned about unequal access to genetic enhancement therapies has been overplayed. Many of the genetic differences that exist between people, including those that arise from differential access to genetic enhancement technology, are simply irrelevant to egalitarian concerns. I also argue that most commentators have failed to appreciate that an egalitarian-inspired program of equal access to genetic enhancement technology may not be altogether favourable for the genetically disadvantaged in any case. The true implications of egalitarian justice in the genetic future have not been adequately explored. Keywords: egalitarianism, genetic enhancement, justice