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Lesley Gray's avatar

I have always remembered what one of my university professors said many years ago “one can judge a society by how it cares for those who have disabilities”

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Michael F. Bird's avatar

So true!

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Janet Caldwell's avatar

Thank you for this post. My older brother who has Intellectual disabilities came to live with us two years ago. He was born without his corpus collosum-that’s the middle part of your brain that divides the right and left so his brain doesn’t function like normal people. He also has epilepsy but that is under control. He is 65 but his mind is more like a middle schooler. I wrote about it recently on my Substack —Special needs children grow into special needs adults. It is difficult for family members to care for those with disabilities and especially the future responsibility after the parents have gone. BUT, there is joy and so much to learn about Gods grace and mercy even in the difficulties. WE are also part of a group of Downs adults that we play bingo with and I have come to learn so much about this sweet community of people. Once again. Yes, challenges are at times very difficult but there is also joy.

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janirob's avatar

Singer was known initially due to his advocacy of animal rights in animal experimentation and food production. He went further than most stating that it was just as ethically responsible to experiment on mentally challenged (e.g.Downs syndrome) children since their metal ability(IQ?) was the same as a dog or chimp. So it is not surprising he takes this abhorrent stance. In UK we have a bill under debate about VAD of which you have a version in Australia. Taking Singers 'logic to the next stage with elderly, disabled, 'differently valued' lives, the comparison with eugenics and Nazi genocide is oh so apt.

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Michael F. Bird's avatar

It is a cruel and heartless logic.

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Federico's avatar

It’s surprising to me how a philosopher has so freely internalized what (much of) contemporary society has understood as “promising” when delivering a statement like this: “disabilities that make ‘the child’s life prospects significantly less promising than those of a normal child’”. It’s different, yes, and sometimes objectively much harder for parents, but these prospects for both the child and the children’s families are promising with a promise that may ultimately be more significant.

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Michael F. Bird's avatar

Indeed!

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Chris Roodenrys's avatar

Those with Down Syndrome are, put simply......Angelic Beings........

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David Capes's avatar

Whoa! Bringing out the big guns!

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Charles Cherry's avatar

AMEN

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Randy Starkey's avatar

A great story of a young lady with DS...

https://youtu.be/_dRshOgx5nk?si=NSKv_AHPGPJvpbqa

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Peter Murphy's avatar

Thank you.

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Stan Winder's avatar

Love this!! As a child in the 1950s, I remember a man with Down Syndrome who would stop by the houses of our little town and brighten the day of all he interacted with. I could not wait for him to arrive. We always had a treat for him, and he was a treat for us. The love of the community helped him live into his 50s - highly unusual for that time.

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