Mental disability and human dignity

This article by Dr. Dominique Beaufils, an Orthodox physician and theologian, examines the question of the human dignity of persons with mental disabilities. Drawn from a paper presented at the European Colloquium of Noirlac (1996), it articulates a dual approach, both clinical and theological, in response to a fundamental question: can mental disability deprive a being of its nature as a human person? The author demonstrates that neither genetics nor any scientific discipline can define a boundary between the human and the non-human, and that the genome of a person with mental disability remains a human genome. From an Orthodox theological standpoint, he affirms the ontological unity of soul and body from the moment of fertilization, the uniqueness of each person created in the image of God, and the mysterious dimension of disability within the economy of salvation. The article thus offers a theologically grounded critique of contemporary eugenic tendencies, while proposing an ethics of love and discernment.