ABSTRACT
The central tenet of utilitarianism is that usefulness determines the value of a person or thing to a society. Medical knowledge and skills were in a primitive state and were helpless in the face of high disease and mortality rates. The United Nations issued a Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which proclaimed human rights as fundamental to life in a democratic society. Human rights for the handicapped were influenced by a number of allied and related movements: civil and minority rights, women's rights, children's rights, consumer's rights. The three philosophies function and interact concurrently in present-day endeavors and proposals to initiate and guide plans for the handicapped. The American welfare system has its roots in the English Poor Laws. In the young American republic of the 19th century, philanthropic and social reform activities accelerated. The cultural function is a modern-day addition to family functions and is concerned with the use of leisure time and the quality of life.
