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Staunch allies (whether you like it or not)
Written by Claire on Monday, March 12, 2007
My friend Mathilda once made a very surprising comment. She said something to the effect of "I wish more people felt like you wannabes do." I thought this a very strange remark, even though I am getting used to the fact that a disabled person can indeed accept and understand BIID. So I asked her what she meant. She answered that most people think that disability is the end of the world, a horrible tragedy. But transabled people see disability with different eyes.
Transabled people see that there’s life after disability, we expect life to be fulfilling and meaningful after disability. We believe that it’s not a question of succeeding despite your disability, it’s just a question of being who you are. To Mathilda, this was a refreshing outlook from an able-bodied person.
Today I read a news article that made my blood run cold. Britain’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology is "concerned" about the number of babies with physical impairments who are surviving because of medical advances. They believe these babies are better off dead, and if medical advances are allowing them to survive, then we need to correct that situation by killing them at birth.
I kid you not. See for yourself. “A very disabled child can mean a disabled family,” they say. They mean to spare parents the emotional burden and financial hardship of raising a disabled child, by killing the child in question. Imagine the emotional burden of living forever with the knowledge that you had killed your child!
How many times have you heard the stories about the newborn child that, according to the doctors, wasn’t expected to live, would never talk, would never walk, would never be able to lead a "normal" life…and then went on to succeed against all odds? Doctors who make these predictions are merely guessing. They cannot see into the future, and anecdotal evidence shows that they are wrong a great deal of the time.
And even if the doctors are right, and the child does indeed have a severe lifelong impairment, does that mean that he were better off dead? That child can have a positive impact on society. That child can life a productive life. That child can be happy, and make others happy. In response to this report, British Council of Disabled People said: “If we introduced euthanasia for certain conditions it would tell adults with those conditions that they were worth less than other members of society.” I would go one step further and say that if this were indeed to become practice, it would tell disabled people that they were not "worth less than" but simply worthless.
We transabled people might not be physically disabled, but we are staunch allies of those who argue for disability rights of all kinds.
[tags]BIID, Transabled, Euthanasia, Disabled, Congenital, Disability, Children, Babies[/tags]This entry appears in Claire's Thoughts, Other's Thoughts, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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1 On 13 March, 2007, Sandy said:
Hi Claire,
I am glad your friend Mathilda sees the positive attitude of persons with BIID towards disabled people. I am also observing in our society that the will to prevent disabilities includes the tendency to remove disabled persons. Killing babies at birth is a disaster, and in my opinion abortions of children who might (not necessarily will) be disabled fall into the same category. They are human beings who may lead a productive life with our without a disability. Yesterday I watched a TV interview with a paraplegic mother of three children, one of them deaf. They are Christians and a perfectly happy family. I became a little envious.