Doing Ethics: A Universal Technique in an Accessibility Context

Abstract

Whether a student, a retiree or in professional practice, today one confronts many situations where it would be helpful to have a particular way of sifting through issues to determine appropriate courses of action. Gordon Preece (2002) writing on a recent topical issue put it this way: 'The womb is like an ethical war-zone. Embryonic stem-cell research, deaf lesbians choosing deaf-babies, IVF embryos chosen and conceived to save existing children, single and lesbian women accessing IVF. Hardly a day goes by without a new ethical dilemma. The pace of technological change and precedent makes it almost impossible to keep up. ' This paper gives the background that gave rise to this technique, the process itself, and then makes use of exemplary scenarios to illustrate how the procedure can be useful to practitioners. One scenario illustrates the approach, while a second illustrates the value in designing appropriate scenarios. The paper ends with suggestions of how the technique, first used in a student context, can be extended to suit professionals from different disciplines as multi-disciplinary teams engage in activities such as building websites.