Credit: Natasha Walker
Brave New World is an exploratory study to enhance and link several D4D projects. The proposed activity connects our collective interests in Sci-Fi/Speculative fictions, community, inclusion/exclusion, gaming, genetics and eugenics, the complex and ambiguous relationships between the notions of Utopia and of Dystopia, science, medicine, economics, art and the imagination.
Here. the D4D community canask questions about whether scientific knowledge is always good for communities. In particular, we will look to bring together different people from a range of countries and perspectives to discuss if genetic screening is entirely good, or what the wider and more disturbing implications may be for deaf and disabled people.
As part of this process we are reviewing the available literature in the field of bio-genetic engineering i.e. genetic modification, gene editing and genetic screening in humans, and the current and potential effect on the many people and cultures that are actively involved in and affected by this emerging science.
A public event at Sick! Festival 2019 in Manchester, led by the D4D team will aim to engage with a range of people involved in initiatives in the field of genetic screening across different countries, along with people whose lives are directly being impacted.
This study will provide a much-needed international perspective on the wider emerging themes from D4D of isolation, visibility / invisibility, complex ethical problems and agency – how can disabled people maintain their independence involvement in decision making and freedom of choice.
