The bioethical approach towards persons with disabilities. A new idea of justice

The San Marino Bioethics Committee (CSB) approved, on the 25 February 2013, an innovative document on “The bioethical approach towards persons with disabilities”5 . This is the first document of this type in the world approved by a National Bioethics Committee. It is subdivided in a preamble, 9 chapters, a glossary, a bibliography and annexes, to which we refer for further details. The issue of disability has for years been absent from the international bioethical reflection, due to a combination of factors: the complexity and vastness of the topic; the linguistic fluency and semantic evolution that over the centuries has characterized this issue; the difficulty of addressing an issue, considered a “taboo” for centuries; the lack of awareness on behalf of the majority of persons with disabilities themselves, of their own dignity as persons, that has always kept them hidden from public debate.