RE: Dawkins sparks outrage for saying Down Syndrome babies should be aborted
August 24, 2014 at 7:17 am
This is an odd phenomenon. Few of us would choose to have a disability. But many of us know people who do. Sometimes those who do would not like to see their 'kind' go out of existence. Little people come to mind. Apparently it is controversial to use medical intervention to help kids with a dwarfish syndrome become taller. I can't imagine any blind person would object to having their vision improved. But those born with hereditary deafness often talk in favor of their alternate experience of life.
Kids with Downs syndrome are mainstreamed for the most part now as are kids with most disabilities. Three is a movement to end the use of "retarded" because it is hurtful on the face of it even if descriptive in another sense. There is no need to be offensive to people with disabilities. But it is curious to me which forms garner support as a way of life and which are universally seen as deficits. I taught with a fellow confined to a wheelchair, a real stand-up guy. He would speak up for access and empathy but he would never have advocated for it as a way of life.
Kids with Downs syndrome are mainstreamed for the most part now as are kids with most disabilities. Three is a movement to end the use of "retarded" because it is hurtful on the face of it even if descriptive in another sense. There is no need to be offensive to people with disabilities. But it is curious to me which forms garner support as a way of life and which are universally seen as deficits. I taught with a fellow confined to a wheelchair, a real stand-up guy. He would speak up for access and empathy but he would never have advocated for it as a way of life.
