Getting on my soapbox...

I try to keep this a New York experience-related blog, but something has been bothering me lately and I really just needed to get it off my chest. I was at a conference this week in Orlando with my mother-in-law, for this really amazing company called Nikken (which is a whole other blog all together...I have a whole new appreciation for the healing power of magnets!) and I got into this conversation with this older canadian lady (who was really quite adorable) about her son. She started talking about how he and his wife were getting to be in their late thirties and trying to decide about kids because they felt like they were "running out of time" to have them, and then she tells me that they PLANNED on (in the event she even gets pregnant) aborting the baby if they do testing and it has down syndrome. I was floored. Obviously people are not usually that candid about this kind of thing, and I may be opening up a really taboo subject here, and I will also say I'm not here to judge anyone or make any decisions for anyone. But having worked with kids with down syndrome for about six years, I have to tell anyone out there who hasn't had experience with these kids what a gift they are. God made all of us no matter what differences we may have, and I just find it incredibly sad and depressing to think about these special people not having a chance in the world based on people's misunderstandings of who they are. I wonder if many people who make the decision to abort have spent any time around anyone with down syndrome. I guess I think about all the things your child could have to deal with in life that are just as hard or harder than dealing with a down syndrome label--including all the parents out there dealing with kids with autism. I think about all the kids I have known with down syndrome who are loving and so playful and full of great joy and sometimes a bit stubborn. Having come from a special ed./research background, I have to tell you how far we've come with kids with special needs and how much the quality of their lives have improved even from 30 years ago. I have also known some incredibly high functioning people with down syndrome who have pretty broad vocabularies and social skills and ability to live on their own. The numbers are simply shocking these days. Up to 80% of these babies are being aborted by potential parents, which I just find unfathomable. The emphasis on the Palin family and their baby Trig has been portrayed interestingly in the media. At times the media seems to emphasize what a sacrifice they have made by choosing to have these special babies, like they are heroes. I can tell you how many parents of these special kids have told me that they (the parents) are the ones who have been blessed, to have these amazing people in their lives to be examples of love to them, and that it is their children who are the heroes. Obviously looking at the numbers there are a lot of people who don't get that, and I wish the Canadian lady's son had been there so I could talk to him about that.