Introduction

Have you ever considered that people with intellectual disabilities have a right to become parents? Have you thought about the ways in which healthcare services tend to “treat” autistic people? How do you feel about selective termination of pregnancy based on a gene linked to a condition conferring intellectual impairment? To what extent might your feelings about these – and other questions regarding neurodiverse populations – be based on widespread ableism that pervades our organizations, systems and society? In this book, contributors from a multitude of backgrounds engage with ethically complex questions relevant to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and/or autistic people, as well as those caring for and working with neurodiverse populations. The book includes the following sections: Moral Status; Capacity and Consent; Inclusion and Empowerment (Society, Systems and Ethics); Inclusion and Empowerment (Practical Approaches); Sexuality, Intimacy, Romance, and Parenting; Health Care; and Ethical Responses to ‘Behaviours’. Our overall hope is that with more awareness of the issues and challenges, and some exposure to a positive framing of these, the volume may contribute to a better understanding of, and broader advocacy for, the rights and ethical treatment of autistic people and individuals with IDD.