 The contrast between sex and race, on one hand, and disability on the other, is especially striking in light of the fact that in the former, measures to alter stigmatized social identities are often regarded as more objectionable than measures to alter dominant social identities that are not stigmatized. Just the reverse is true for disability. Giving deaf children cochlear implants is somewhat controversial; deafening hearing children would be considered criminal abuse. And this would be so even if the children were too young to have the self-conscious experience of hearing, had no other effects from being deafened, and faced no discrimination on the basis of deafness. These contrasts raise the question of whether the asymmetry with respect to disability-prevention is compatible with the view that disabilities are neutral characteristics—that they do not make life go worse overall.