“Didn’t you get tested?”
There are so many things I could say about this article. As a mother whose son has been labeled Development Delayed, I actually broke down in tears reading it.
Whether you agree with genetic pre-screening or not, this speaks to a much darker issue in our society. I have often asked myself if I could terminate a pregnancy if I knew ahead of time my child would have down syndrome. To my knowledge there is still no test to screen for autism, since most forms of autism do not clearly manifest until the child is over a year old. I am a strong supporter of reproductive choice and rights, so it comes down to personal choice. For my answer, no I couldn't do it, I would have the child and shower it will all the love I do my other two children.
But what really bothers me about the whole issue, is
"Why has it become so agonizing to bring a down syndrome child into this world?"
We treat down syndrome like it's something shameful of, to pity the parents who have been "burdened" with raising mentally handicap children. To that knee jerk response I say "What the Fuck, society?" Why don't you put all that judgmental b.s. into improving the quality of life for all people with mental handicaps. People with D.S. or Autism are still people. If you judge these people based on how they were born, or their parents for "bringing them into this world", then you have just quantified a human life, their life is worth less than a 'normal' person.
Genetic perfection through elimination. Remember that Holocaust thing. Whoa, now,that's a little extreme, right? Perhaps, but remember, Hitler's plan was not to simply eliminate the Jewish people, they were just a part of the target population. He wanted to eliminate everyone he considered imperfect, which included physical and mental handicaps. He considered these people less than human and killed millions upon millions of people to achieve Genetic Perfection.
Fuck genetic perfection. Hey science, I know you are gung ho about solving these problems before they happen but this is what I want to see. I want to see science unlock the brain, the organ at the root of this issue. A true challenge, figure out how to rewire the brain around the neural pathways of D.S. Of all the organs in our body, the brain is the most complex, the hardest to understand, the organ that is incredibly difficult to repair and is so very easily damaged. We understand a great deal about our bodies, much more than we did even fifty years ago. Who knows, in another fifty years, perhaps science will access the huge percentage of our brains we don't use, find a way to cure autism and D.S. in adults. We have ways to give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, is it so big a leap to heal the brain? I, for one, would fully support that research. Need stem cells? Do it. If parents feel their only options are to abort a fetus or subject themselves to a lifetime of assholes, then I feel we have shoved science in the wrong direction. And we have seriously gone off the rail of what we should be as a society.
My son and I have difficult days. We are currently trying to potty train him, a task filled with many tears and frustration. My son constantly babbles, and it is hard to get him to string three words together. He still needs help dressing some days, and often doesn't listen. I feel like I lose my temper and yell at him too much. But...
He loves to sing, he gives these full body hugs, tucking his head against my neck, and sweet little pecking kisses on my lips. He still comes to me for comfort when he hurts himself, and loves to be read to. He has memorized several of his favorites and tries so hard to read along. Yes we have our difficult days, but if I had the choice to go back, I would still pick him every time.
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