Choosing Down Syndrome

2018-04-06
Choosing Down Syndrome

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  • Author: Chris Kaposy
  • Publisher: MIT Press
  • ISBN: 0262037718
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 237

An argument that more people should have children with Down syndrome, written from a pro-choice, disability-positive perspective. The rate at which parents choose to terminate a pregnancy when prenatal tests indicate that the fetus has Down syndrome is between 60 and 90 percent. In Choosing Down Syndrome, Chris Kaposy offers a carefully reasoned ethical argument in favor of choosing to have such a child. Arguing from a pro-choice, disability-positive perspective, Kaposy makes the case that there is a common social bias against cognitive disability that influences decisions about prenatal testing and terminating pregnancies, and that more people should resist this bias by having children with Down syndrome. Drawing on accounts by parents of children with Down syndrome, and arguing for their objectivity, Kaposy finds that these parents see themselves and their families as having benefitted from having a child with Down syndrome. To counter those who might characterize these accounts as based on self-deception or expressing adaptive preference, Kaposy cites supporting evidence, including divorce rates and observational studies showing that families including children with Down syndrome typically function well. Himself the father of a child with Down syndrome, Kaposy argues that cognitive disability associated with Down syndrome does not lead to diminished well-being. He argues further that parental expectations are influenced by neoliberal ideologies that unduly focus on the supposed diminished economic potential of a person with Down syndrome. Kaposy does not advocate restricting access to abortion or prenatal testing for Down syndrome, and he does not argue that it is ethically mandatory in all cases to give birth to a child with Down syndrome. People should be free to make important decisions based on their values. Kaposy's argument shows that it may be consistent with their values to welcome a child with Down syndrome into the family.

Choosing Naia

2003-09-02
Choosing Naia

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  • Author: Mitchell Zuckoff
  • Publisher: Beacon Press
  • ISBN: 9780807028179
  • Category : Family & Relationships
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 318

A dramatic and carefully detailed account of one family's journey through the maze of genetic counseling, medical technology, and disability rights; destined to become required reading for anyone touched by any of these issues.

Choosing Down Syndrome

2022-08-09
Choosing Down Syndrome

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  • Author: Chris Kaposy
  • Publisher: MIT Press
  • ISBN: 0262546248
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 237

An argument that more people should have children with Down syndrome, written from a pro-choice, disability-positive perspective. The rate at which parents choose to terminate a pregnancy when prenatal tests indicate that the fetus has Down syndrome is between 60 and 90 percent. In Choosing Down Syndrome, Chris Kaposy offers a carefully reasoned ethical argument in favor of choosing to have such a child. Arguing from a pro-choice, disability-positive perspective, Kaposy makes the case that there is a common social bias against cognitive disability that influences decisions about prenatal testing and terminating pregnancies, and that more people should resist this bias by having children with Down syndrome. Drawing on accounts by parents of children with Down syndrome, and arguing for their objectivity, Kaposy finds that these parents see themselves and their families as having benefitted from having a child with Down syndrome. To counter those who might characterize these accounts as based on self-deception or expressing adaptive preference, Kaposy cites supporting evidence, including divorce rates and observational studies showing that families including children with Down syndrome typically function well. Himself the father of a child with Down syndrome, Kaposy argues that cognitive disability associated with Down syndrome does not lead to diminished well-being. He argues further that parental expectations are influenced by neoliberal ideologies that unduly focus on the supposed diminished economic potential of a person with Down syndrome. Kaposy does not advocate restricting access to abortion or prenatal testing for Down syndrome, and he does not argue that it is ethically mandatory in all cases to give birth to a child with Down syndrome. People should be free to make important decisions based on their values. Kaposy's argument shows that it may be consistent with their values to welcome a child with Down syndrome into the family.

Testing Women, Testing the Fetus

2004-11-23
Testing Women, Testing the Fetus

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  • Author: Rayna Rapp
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN: 1135963916
  • Category : Social Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 376

Rich with the voices and stories of participants, these touching, firsthand accounts examine how women of diverse racial, ethnic, class and religious backgrounds perceive prenatal testing, the most prevalent and routinized of the new reproducing technologies. Based on the author's decade of research and her own personal experiences with amniocentesis, Testing Women, Testing the Fetus explores the "geneticization" of family life in all its complexity and diversity.

Expecting Adam

2011-08-02
Expecting Adam

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  • Author: Martha Beck
  • Publisher: Harmony
  • ISBN: 0307719642
  • Category : Biography & Autobiography
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 370

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A candid and moving memoir of how one woman’s pregnancy forced her to confront her definition of how to live a successful life “Slyly ironic, frequently hilarious, [Martha] Beck’s memoir charts the journey from being smart to becoming wise.”—Time This edition includes a new afterword about Adam. From the moment Martha and her husband, John, accidentally conceived their second child, all hell broke loose. They were a couple obsessed with success. After years of matching IQs and test scores with less driven peers, they had two Harvard degrees apiece and were gunning for more. They’d plotted out a future in the most vaunted ivory tower of academe. But when their unborn son, Adam, was diagnosed with Down syndrome, doctors, advisers, and friends in the Harvard community warned them that if they decided to keep the baby, they would lose all hope of achieving their carefully crafted goals. Fortunately, that’s exactly what happened. By the time Adam was born, Martha and John were propelled into a world in which they were forced to redefine everything of value to them, put all their faith in miracles, and trust that they could fly without a net. And it worked. Expecting Adam captures the abject terror and exhilarating freedom of facing impending parenthood, being forced to question one’s deepest beliefs, and rewriting life’s rules.

Down Syndrome

2014-08
Down Syndrome

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  • Author: Michelle Levine
  • Publisher: Living With
  • ISBN: 9781607534815
  • Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 0

Living with... What's it like to live with health conditions that don't go away? Learn what these conditions are, how they are treated, and how to help friends and family live with them. Book jacket.

Life As We Know It

1998-03-31
Life As We Know It

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  • Author: Michael Berube
  • Publisher: Vintage
  • ISBN: 0679758666
  • Category : Family & Relationships
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 306

When Jamie Bérubé was born with Down syndrome in 1991, he was immediately subject to the medical procedures, insurance guidelines, policies, and representations that surround every child our society designates as disabled. In this wrenching yet ultimately inspiring book, Jamie's father, literary scholar Michael Bérubé, describes not only the challenges of raising his son but the challenge of seeing him as a person rather than as a medical, genetic, or social problem.

Count Us In

1994-01-12
Count Us In

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  • Author: Jason Kingsley
  • Publisher: HMH
  • ISBN: 0547350856
  • Category : Biography & Autobiography
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 219

Award winner: “Hearing about Down syndrome directly from these young men has a good deal more impact than reading any guide from a professional.” —Booklist This book is in Mitchell and Jason’s own words. . . . We wanted readers to have a true-to-life sense of their charm, their directness, their humor and warmth, and, yes, their intelligence. At ages nineteen and twenty-two, respectively, Jason Kingsley and Mitchell Levitz shared their innermost thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams―and their experiences growing up with Down syndrome. Their frank discussion of what mattered most in their lives―careers, friendships, school, sex, marriage, finances, politics, and independence―earned Count Us In numerous national awards, including the EDI Award from the National Easter Seal Society. More important, their wit, intelligence, candor, and charm made for a powerful and inspirational statement about the full potential of people with developmental disabilities, challenging prevailing stereotypes. In this edition, with a new afterword, the authors also discuss their lives since then: milestones and challenges, and changes both expected and unexpected. “Their parents were told to expect nothing. But Jason Kingsley and Mitchell Levitz were lucky, because their parents didn’t listen. They gave their sons that chance to show how far they could go—and they’ve astounded everyone!” —Jane Pauley “This single volume will do more to change stereotypes about Down syndrome than any book I have read. These two young men steal our hearts and wash away generations of misconceptions.” —Mary L. Coleman, MD, Emeritus, Georgetown University “An excellent illustration of what it’s like to have Down syndrome . . . Most moving here are the portrayals of strong family relationships.” —Publishers Weekly “Will open eyes and touch the heart.” —Library Journal

Choosing Children

2008-01-10
Choosing Children

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  • Author: Jonathan Glover
  • Publisher: OUP Oxford
  • ISBN: 0191037117
  • Category : Philosophy
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 128

Progress in genetic and reproductive technology now offers us the possibility of choosing what kinds of children we do and don't have. Should we welcome this power, or should we fear its implications? There is no ethical question more urgent than this: we may be at a turning-point in the history of humanity. The renowned moral philosopher and best-selling author Jonathan Glover shows us how we might try to answer this question, and other provoking and disturbing questions to which it leads. Surely parents owe it to their children to give them the best life they can? Increasingly we are able to reduce the number of babies born with disabilities and disorders. But there is a powerful new challenge to conventional thinking about the desirability of doing so: this comes from the voices of those who have these conditions. They call into question the very definition of disability. How do we justify trying to avoid bringing people like them into being? In 2002 a deaf couple used sperm donated by a friend with hereditary deafness to have a deaf baby: they took the view that deafness is not a disability, but a difference. Starting with the issues raised by this case, Jonathan Glover examines the emotive idea of 'eugenics', and the ethics of attempting to enhance people, for non-medical reasons, by means of genetic choices. Should parents be free, not only to have children free from disabilities, but to choose, for instance, the colour of their eyes or hair? This is no longer a distant prospect, but an existing power which we cannot wish away. What impact will such interventions have, both on the individuals concerned and on society as a whole? Should we try to make general improvements to the genetic make-up of human beings? Is there a central core of human nature with which we must not interfere? This beautifully clear book is written for anyone who cares about the rights and wrongs of parents' choices for their children, anyone who is concerned about our human future. Glover handles these uncomfortable questions in a controversial but always humane and sympathetic manner.

A Different Kind of Perfect

2008-02
A Different Kind of Perfect

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  • Author: George Michael Lane
  • Publisher: Gom Paraclete Press
  • ISBN: 9781932966541
  • Category : Down syndrome
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 0

A Different Kind of Perfect is a story about parents choosing a child with Down syndrome and the implications of that choice. It's a story about faith and blessings in an imperfect world that craves and idealizes perfection. It's also a story about finding God's perfection through love. Written with an honest voice, George Michael Lane draws the reader into his family's personal story. The struggle with whether or not to terminate the pregnancy is honest and will hit a nerve with a contemporary audience.