Genetic Counseling and What It Can Mean...
Over April vacation, I took my children on a trip to NYC. Everywhere we went, people were talking about Autism. Billboards, buses, toy stores--everywhere--there were signs and commercials and fund-raisers and raise money for Autism.It was creepy. It made more sense once I discovered that April was Autism Awareness month.
We were standing in Toys-R-Us, waiting for the elevator, when a TV blared out a commercial with the tag line, "Cure Autism Now!" My ten year old made an ugly face and muttered, "They say it like it's a bad thing. I don't need to be cured." Well, WOW! This was a change in perspective. Jacob used to ask me why he was cursed with Autism. He used to tell me that when he met God, he was going to ask him why he gave him Autism and tell him that he didn't think it was fair.
All of this is a lead in to tell you about this article in the NY Times, which led me to this column by George Will.
If you take the time to read both pieces something about it all will probably make you squirm. I completely respect Mr. Will's perspective and yet, something about it strikes me as disingenuous.
Testing can be done for Down Syndrome, yes, but those tests can not tell you the severity of the disability present in the baby. He argues that screening is done so that abortions can be performed and while the numbers seem to bear that out somewhat, couldn't you have the testing done so that if your child had Down Syndrome you could be better prepared? Because most of my family and friends are who they are--Catholic--terminating a pregnancy was never an option for them, but being prepared was and screening tests gave them that opportunity.
He talks about his son who is by all accounts a happy and productive guy. Terrific. But how many are like him and how many parents are equipped with the skills and the money--and lets not pretend raising successful children with disabilities isn't about money--as the Will family?
And Mr. Will argues that if there are less children with Down Syndrome there will be fewer services and the world will be less accepting of them. He may be right. I'm not sure if that is a reason to encourage more Down Syndrome kids. If you could "cure" 80 percent of Down Syndrome kids at birth with an injection of something--would the argument that doing so would make the 20 percent that weren't "curable" more isolated be reason not to do it?
There is no way to screen for Autism. Hell, an Autism diagnosis is still a pretty subjective thing and once the word is muttered parents are left to scramble to find out what it is and the many different ways they might be able to help. It is hit or miss. One has to become a scientist and a doctor and a parent on the fly. It is exhausting and the degree to which parents do it well is all over the place.
As for aborting children with disabilities...I'm just one person and honestly not equipped to make that decision for all of man-kind or judge those who have chosen to do that. I, do however, read an awful lot of stories about Autistic kids who end up being kept in cages by their parents and who were killed accidentally during exorcisms where their parents tried to remove the demons from them. The list of tragedies committed by parents grows daily: the woman who set her apartment on fire and burned her autistic son to death, the woman who drove her and her autistic daughter off a bridge because she couldn't care for her anymore...on and on and on.
Some people are just not equipped to deal.
Chris
