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Please note that the presentation will include potentially distressing examples of medical ableism and ableist language.

AbstractMy aim in this presentation is to present a view on which disability is constructed by ableist ideology and examine some upshots for medical ethics. I begin by contrasting medicalised and social models of disability. I propose examining ableist ideology, attempting to identify some core characteristics of ableism,to identify the social location of disability. I use this account to argue that we can make no principled distinction between supposedly ‘medical’ versus ‘environmental’ suffering. If correct this means that many supposedly ‘moderate’ positions in medical policy, which carve exceptions for medicalised suffering, are flawed. I end by discussing some implications for, and concerns about, current policy proposals in Canada and Scotland.