On November 24 2009, the Church Report highlighted the efforts of Alliance Defense Fund attorneys who filed an emergency motion to save the life of nine-month old Gabriel Palmer, who has disabilities. East Tennessee Children’s Hospital says it may abandon his medical care even though he is stable. “A disability should not be a death sentence. No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is not worth saving,” said Matt Bowman, ADF Legal Counsel. Ben Mattlin, freelance writer who has physical disabilities, understands all too well this potential threat against those who are vulnerable. Last year, he was rushed to the hospital after becoming septic. He was unconscious and close to death. But before the doctors administered life-saving treatment, they turned to Ben’s wife and asked, “Are you sure you want us to do this?” It was clear to Ben’s wife that the only reason they hesitated was because of her husband’s disability.People with disabilities represent that 800-pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about. They are a “disturbing” presence. They destabilize our certainties regarding our place and our identity. On a personal level, an encounter with a person with a disability forces us to confront modes of existence, which are close to ours, but at the same time we fearfully reject. These encounters can disturb what we think and experience about what it means to be human. It may even disturb our self-image. What is usually considered relevant and valuable does not seem as important at all in this encounter with a person with a disability—who belongs and yet does not belong in our categories of what it means to be human. In the medical arena, an encounter with a person with a disability can create just as much dissonance. As Ben Mattlin aptly points out, disability in general can represent a gap in their knowledge, “an irritating puzzle, a fearful reminder of the limits of their calling.” Hence, disability can create for some physicians an emotional and intellectual disturbance, a crisis of confidence that the pursuit of human enhancement simply cannot overcome.