How do you feel?
Moms View Message Board: The Kitchen Table (Debating Board): How do you feel?
Artcile
I personally think this is wrong, what do you all think?
of course it would have been nice to spell article correctly. LOL
I read that article too, and all the comments, last night. I am very disturbed that, when offered the opportunity to select, a parent would deliberately select for their child to have the same condition they have when that condition is one that society in general considers a handicap or defect. And that would certainly include dwarfism and deafness.
I know that the deaf community is, for many, a very rich community, and that a large number of people in the deaf community oppose "normalization", i.e., learning how to communicate with speech and lip-reading, hearing aids, surgery, etc. There was a recent several week long series of demonstrations at Galludet (sp?), the college for the deaf near D.C., because the named incoming head of the college used lip-reading and speech as well as ASL. Nonetheless, in our world as it is, deafness is a handicap to many, and I strongly disapprove of parents trying to make sure their child is deaf, a dwarf/small person, or continues any handicap that the parent has.
I don't get why you would CHOOSE to let your child have a difficulty that they might not otherwise have.
I'm shaking my head wondering why a parent would want some kind of disability for their children.Gotta wonder...
Why anyone would want their child to be handicapped is beyond me. It's one thing to naturally take that risk, knowing you could pass on the gene, but to intentionally do it is awful.
I think the world is difficult enough. Why intentionally put the extra burden of a handicap on your child. It's a shame.
Genetic manipulation is wrong, period. You get what you get, and you have to deal with it.
I understand that many adults, despite their defects, find value in their lives and are successful despite what they have been given to deal with. But it seems to me that it is selfish to manipulate the outcome of what could be a healthy pregnancy and baby just to have a duplicate of ones self.
I think it is terribly interesting. the harsh reality is as parents we often hope our kids are like us, we want them to have daddy's eyes or mommy's hands, etc. I certainly would picked taller genes given the option.
For dwarves though, can you imagine how difficult their lives become with an average sized child? Their houses keeps things shorter, smaller ceilings, smaller beds, shorter counter tops. They make special cribs for dwarfed babies and their parents. To hold a baby that could be very close to your size, or to push a stroller with a 3 or 4 year old could just be a daunting task. And ultimatly most dwarves don't see their lives as a disablity. I can see where they are coming from.
However for the deaf....I don't get that at all! That is like saying I only speak english, so I refuse to let my child speak a second language. Now i would be very unhappy if my child only spoke french, but that doesn't happen, kids learn the language their parents speak.
I have to say, this one of those reasons that I feel that sometimes we have gone too far in the medical community. I know IVF has helped many infertile couples and they consider it a real blessing. But sometimes I wonder if just because we can do it, that we should do it. I also have not quite been faced with needing that to have a family.
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