Are we sick and tired enough?

In light of the Italian woman, who lost both of her unborn children to the "cult" of eugenics, many articles have been written to bring some light on what has been a very quiet infection of our society. In a way, maybe what happened to that mom-to-be has become a watershed moment for all of us. Maybe, with the help of the attention that this incident has garnered, it is time for parents, and all of society, to say enough is enough.

There is no way any thinking person can defend the practice of eugenics. And I will listen astutely to anyone who tries to explain how all of this push for earlier pre-natal testing isn't eugenic. I can understand wanting to prepare for a child's needs at birth, but no-one needs to start the planning 7 months before the birthday. The only reason for "earlier" is eugenic.

After what happened to me recently, I had the wake-up call. The "smack in the face" as to what is really happening here. The Hitleresque approach to making sure kids with Down Syndrome don't get born. It is time for us to not only educate society on what DS really means, but also to start questioning the medical practices that have become an accepted norm. I want any prospective parents to understand that DS is not a negative in your life, and in fact, something that becomes a beautiful positive. I want them to feel able to question a ob/gyn or geneticist when vague statements about abilities, or grandiose exclamations about disabilities are offered.

The fact that a doctor would give me the "speech" after I had parented a child with DS for three years gives me an indication of arrogance and naivety. A bad, and now deadly, combination.

Yesterday I happened to watch Oprah. She was doing a show on being born "intersex" (born with elements of both male and female reproductive organs). I jotted down a quote she made-"For the human species to evolve, we have to learn to accept all people". I thought that was a great statement. Her audience clapped enthusiastically afterward, in apparent approval. Then I thought to myself how her producers, ironically, flatly refuse to have a program about the truths of DS and the impact of early pre-natal testing on unborn children with DS. I guess some people are more acceptable than others at Harpo.

When I read this article from the Toronto Star, I was elated to see a columnist who understood what is really going on, and thought it was time to start calling a spade a spade. To bring the "cult" of eugenics out from behind the closed doors of doctor's offices and into the light of day.
(Thank you to my great friend Leslie, who forwarded this article to me.)

I hope that this becomes a cultural revolution, where we can shed fears and erase misconceptions. A time when we learn to honor and celebrate our capacity to love and understand one another. A time when we can embrace someone for what they have to offer, and not just the things we are only interested in seeing. A time when people with disabilities give us the opportunity to evolve towards what perfection really is. A time where accepting a child with Down Syndrome becomes our chance to show the world we want more than the narrow life experience society wants to offer us. We should all be so lucky.