Slide 29 Samson overcomes Separation through Death

Slide 29 Samson overcomes Separation through Death

The Last Two Verses of the Story:

Samson’s last words before dying becomes a tragically ironic: "Let me die WITH the Philistines” (Judges 16:31).

After his death, he finally joins his family: Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah (Judges 16:31).

Slide 30 To Review

The disability imagery in the story of Samson serves as a literary device to:

Structure the beginning and end of the story

Develop the theme of Samson’s alienation and separation in the story and its tragic consequences

It DOES NOT tell us much about how people with disabilities actually lived their everyday lives in the ancient world

To Review

We emphasized awareness of the type of language (medical, legal, literary, etc.) that we use to describe disability

Disability in the Samson story is a literary device. It should not be confused for a medical or legal or any other type of depiction of disability in the ancient world

We should not assume the literary themes of alienation and separation automatically reflect the real everyday lives of people with disabilities in the ancient or contemporary world

We should not assume that people with disabilities live tragic lives just because disability is often used to develop tragic themes in literature

PowerPoint slides for Lesson 2: Uninformed Consent: Medical Testing on Vulnerable Populations

Ann Keefer, PhD, Institute on Disabilities, Temple University

Slide 1 Uninformed Consent

A brief history of medical experimentation on vulnerable populations in the United States from the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment to the Holmesburg Prison Drug Trials

“‘These kids want attention so bad, if you hit them over the head with a hammer they would love you for it.’” (Sentenced 53)

Dermatologist Arthur Kligman speaking on using mentally disabled children from New Jersey institutions for the “feebleminded” as research subjects

Slide 3 Social Stigma

“Social stigma is severe social disapproval of personal characteristics or beliefs that are perceived to be against cultural norms.”

Sociologists Link and Phelan identify an outcome of social stigma: “Labeled individuals experience ‘status loss and discrimination’ that leads to unequal circumstances.”

Slide 4 Vulnerable Populations

According to the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative, three main groups are considered “vulnerable populations” in terms of human subjects research:

2 Children/minors (under the age of 18 or under the age of legal consent in their country)

3 Prisoners

People with disabilities are NOT listed as a vulnerable population

Slide 5 The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

Summer 1929: The Public Health Service (PHS) launches its longitudinal study of syphilis in the deep south US, formalizing it in 1932 as the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.” The federally-funded study continues until March 3, 1972, when the PHS is ordered to begin treating the “control” group enrolled in the study (and suffering from untreated syphilis for nearly 40 years).

Slide 6 WPA Poster: “The Enemy is Syphilis”

Poster showing a large man protected by a hat and a gas mask, soldiers marching, and the words “Enlist employees in a campaign against it.”

Slide 7 The Polio Years: Salk’s Vaccine

1952: Jonas Salk, in the process of developing a killed-virus vaccine for poliomyelitis, one of the largest public health crises and terrors in American history, tests his vaccine on institutionalized, mentally and physically disabled children.

Spring (?) 1953: Salk inoculates himself, his wife, and his three sons

April 26, 1954: The first “Polio Pioneers” line up for shots, nationwide field trial begins

Slide 8 Polio Pioneers

Poster shows a group of healthy, happy, nondisabled children ready to take the polio vaccine.

Slide 9 “Science Club”

From 1946 to 1973, “mentally retarded” boys at the Fernald School in Waltham, Massachusetts, are recruited to participate in “Science Club,” a joint experiment by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and Quaker Oats using radioactive isotopes to track the absorption of nutrients in cereal. Special enticements are offered to the boys through the consent of their parents.

Slide 10 Holmesburg Prison Experiments

Early 1950s to early 1970s: Arthur Kligman and various government researchers and corporate sponsors conduct experiments of dioxin, psychoactive chemicals and other pharmaceutical and radioactive agents, using inmates at Holmesburg Prison (and other prisons across the nation) as human test subjects.

Slide 11 After Tuskegee: The Belmont Report

The Belmont Report explains the unifying ethical principles that form the basis for the National Commission’s topic-specific reports and the regulations that incorporate its recommendations.

The three fundamental ethical principles for using any human subjects for research are:

(2) beneficence: maximizing benefits for the research project while minimizing risks to the research subjects; and

(3) justice: ensuring reasonable, non-exploitative, and well-considered procedures are administered fairly (the fair distribution of costs and benefits to potential research participants.)

These principles remain the basis for the HHS human subject protection regulations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmont_Report)