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Virginia Bovell
Recent Publications
- Bovell Virginia (2006) Time to spell out the line on special needs: can a report from MPs this week herald an end to years of confusion and secrecy? The Guardian.
- Lewis Jane, Bernstock Penny, and Bovell Virginia (1997) Implementing care management: issues in relation to the new community care British Journal of Social Work, 27(1).
- Bovell Virginia, Lewis Jane, and Wookey Fiona (1996) The implications for social services departments of the information task in the social care market Health and Social Care in the Community, 5(2).
- Lewis Jane, Bernstock Penny, and Bovell Virginia (1996) The purchaser/provider split in social care: is it working? Social Policy Administration, 30(1):1-96.
| virginia.bovell@ethox.ox.ac.uk | |
| Contact address | The Ethox Centre, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LF |
| College | St Cross College |
Virginia is carrying out doctoral research on the question of whether the prevention or cure of autism is a morally justified quest. Affecting 1% of the population, autism spectrum conditions are the focus of extensive contemporary genetic and other aetiological investigation. Some scientists have raised the possibility of advances in knowledge leading to the ability to prevent autism, while in the UK it is now mandatory for couples using Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis to choose embryos that are not affected with markers indicating serious disability. The ethical implications of advances in our genetic understanding of autism, which may in due course lead to the possibility for antenatal screening, are all the more significant because of the emergence of a pro-diversity autism lobby. Its members positively affirm not only the equal rights of autistic people to exist but – in some quarters – assertively state the advantages of autism relative to being ‘neurotypical’. To date this polarisation of perspective has not been explored within the context of contemporary debates in medical ethics. The research will aim to describe and dissect the beliefs, values and assumptions that underpin contrasting viewpoints, and to clarify which issues need to be explicitly debated, to ensure that developments in research, policy and practice are driven with an awareness of the ethical underpinnings and their implications for people with autism, their families and the wider community.
Virginia has worked in the voluntary sector since her son was diagnosed with autism in 1996. She has participated in a variety of government working parties, primarily in the field of education and early intervention for children with Special Educational Needs. Before that she was a social policy researcher at LSE. She has an MA in Medical Ethics and Medical Law, and an MSc in Health Economics.
