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Parents Plan 24/7 Webcast of Disabled Daughter

by Amar Toor on November 10, 2009 at 07:32 AM

Video cameras are everywhere. Whenever you're in public, whether it be a subway station or in front of an ATM, chances are that there's a device somewhere capturing your every move. And everyone's pretty cool about it, for the most part. But when Big Brother unexpectedly moves into the private sphere, people get mad. But a couple in France are testing the limits of privacy with a proposed webcast featuring their disabled and uncommunicative daughter.

Anne Lamic, a 32-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, spends most of her days in bed at her family's home in southeastern France, and can neither speak nor walk. Her parents, though, want to bring her daily struggle to the Internet by way of a webcast. The entire initiative, The Huffington Post reports, is part of an effort to raise awareness about the plight of the handicapped in a country that trails the U.S., Canada, and the Nordic countries when it comes to disabled citizens' rights and accommodations. The webcast has stirred up some controversy in France, though, as some have questioned its ethicality, since Lamic, obviously, can't really have her own say in the issue. Her father, Didier Lamic, contends that the webcam "will allow people to see handicaps in ways that are real, everyday and familiar," adding that the videos "must be watched with tenderness and love."

It's a pretty delicate issue, to say the least, but no one's really questioning the Lamics' motives; they don't stand to gain financially, aside from the potential TV or radio appearance, maybe. Still, we can also understand the argument against making Anne into an Internet spectacle without her permission. But, seeing as Anne can't effectively give permission, and seeing as her life totally depends upon her parents, we could argue that this decision is really no different from any other that the Lamics have made over the course of Anne's 32 years. It's been made with great difficulty, with great love, and with her best interests at heart. [From: Huffington Post]

Tags: camera, disabled, medical, top, webcast

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