Science Creating Shaky Tomorrows

October 23, 2017

Maybe the most important message we can share about Down syndrome awareness and acceptance is simply to say no to Eugenics.  The first group of people that Hitler destroyed were the developmentally disabled, he took them from their homes, told their families they were going to special farms and then immediately gassed them because they were not worthy of life.

As far a we want to believe we have come, turns out in some places, we still have a long way to go.  In such countries like Iceland, it is a huge boon that they have all but eradicated Down syndrome.  Only the babies that are born by ‘mistake’ are making into their society, but boy I worry about them.  I worry about the theory of stopping it before it starts, letting a prenatal test tell someone their baby has a likelihood of Trisomy 21...and so an abortion follows because they can try again.

When given the true statistics, a look at the point of view from someone who has a loved one with Down syndrome in their lives, I wonder if the parent still really wants to abort.  I wonder if they would have that option.  If the potential medical funding is taken away, who could afford to say yes to the baby?  Insurance is outrageous, and often the most unexpected happens to hit you straight in the jaw, so how can you gamble on their good health and say the funding doesn’t matter.  And yet, look one of our babies in the eye, and you’d have to be stronger than me to say they don’t matter.

Truth of the matter is, every baby with an extra chromosome still matters, they still have feelings and personalities, people they love, and people who love them.  If others could see the person beneath the diagnosis there would be no more discussion about this, lives would be protected and for once maybe their precious little lives would have meaning for not just those of us on their coat tails, but to everyone.

But we are a society of “Keeping up with the Jones’s” and you can’t keep up if your child is not the perfect future Ive Leaguer/ Olympian/ Pro Athlete/ insanely rich and prosperous adult that is waiting to get past potty training in order to achieve all that greatness.  Anything less is unacceptable, and quite frankly will be someone else’s fault entirely... certainly nothing to do with his or her parents.

Where does it end?  When is too far not acceptable?  What happens when scientists figure out how to stop Down syndrome, and so all the research that is helping teach us about Alzheimer’s and hard tumors fades away.  Once the Dominoes start falling there is no stopping them.  Are we certain that’s the road we want to go down?  First Down syndrome and then what’s next?  Autism?  What happens when the tests can show a child’s propensity for Autism, will the pressure start again?  Abort and try again.  How can we live with that kind of mentality, who would want too?  I know I wouldn’t want to.

It’s funny, on the worst days, I wish that he could do more than he’s doing right now.  I wish he could talk to me, that he could master getting dressed on his own, master the potty.  In all that, I find that I am not sitting there thinking “I wish he didn’t have an extra chromosome.”  I’m just thinking, “I wish he could be more caught up to the others, that he had more control over his immediate world.  What happens around him and to him.”  That’s what I find myself wishing for, wishing that he could take part in regular hobbies, stuff he just couldn’t handle right now.

Folks Hitler was wrong then and Eugenics is wrong now.  Just my take on it, some agree and many don’t...but in a world gone crazy, I will take all the stories of love and inspiration I can get and pray that the good in humanity will somehow win.  That for every kid that protects a special friend, ten kids learn and emulate that love, and perhaps that’s the legacy that will snowball down the hill and bring everyone a little closer, a little kinder, and perhaps Bradley and those like him, will find a place at the table.