Aggregated News
When Amy Julia Becker asked me to write a post responding to the question “Should Down syndrome Be Cured?” I had a strong feeling of déjà vu all over again.
Haven’t we debated that question already?
A few seconds on Google revealed that yes, we have.
In early 2010, Lisa Belkin wrote a Motherlode column with the very same provocative question as its title. Her piece was responding to news that Stanford University researchers had made progress with drugs designed to improve memory and cognition in people with Down syndrome.
“Good news, right?” Belkin asks. “Not necessarily.” She quotes at length a woman named Jenn Power, mother of twins with Down syndrome, who felt deeply conflicted about the new developments. She said she loved her boys as they were and would not want to make any intervention that might change them. Belkin concluded by asking, “if there were a cure for your child that would fundamentally change who he is, would you welcome it?” With sad predictability, the piece ends with a pileup of vitriolic comments that accuse Power of...
Haven’t we debated that question already?
A few seconds on Google revealed that yes, we have.
In early 2010, Lisa Belkin wrote a Motherlode column with the very same provocative question as its title. Her piece was responding to news that Stanford University researchers had made progress with drugs designed to improve memory and cognition in people with Down syndrome.
“Good news, right?” Belkin asks. “Not necessarily.” She quotes at length a woman named Jenn Power, mother of twins with Down syndrome, who felt deeply conflicted about the new developments. She said she loved her boys as they were and would not want to make any intervention that might change them. Belkin concluded by asking, “if there were a cure for your child that would fundamentally change who he is, would you welcome it?” With sad predictability, the piece ends with a pileup of vitriolic comments that accuse Power of...