Caliwag

Have you ever worked with children or adults that have Downs Syndrome or cerebral palsy?

Worked? No. Lived? Yes. My brother has cerebral palsy. I'll admit that he is very lucky; he's of average intelligence, less severe physical handicaps (he goes to the US paralympic soccer training camp about every six months ^{_{and gets to travel the world that bastard}}). It's not all sunshine and rainbows (medical bills, being different), still he's the nicest, happiest guy I know.

I'm not naive enough to think that if I had a child with this disorder, I would be so lucky to have a kid that "normal". I know that people have very good reasons for aborting fetuses with disorders, and I still totally support their decision. I would abort if I thought the disorder was major and I didn't think I could give my child a good quality of life. But I wouldn't for just any disorder. It's naive to think that I could understand all the difficulties of caring for a child with special needs, yes, but I'm not trying to pass judgment on anybody who chooses to do something different.

Aborting a handicapped foetus is not the same as killing a handicapped person. A foetus is literally a bunch of cells, with no autonomy whatsoever. If you know that that bunch of cells is destined to grow into a life of extraordinary pain, suffering and hardship, is it not kinder to stop it from ever beginning?

I get that, but I meant more that I don't want to abort a fetus with, say Downs or cerebral palsy or something that is not necessarily going to make them suffer. They would cost the families more to care for the child and the child would stand out as being different, but those are mild disorders and people with them can live fairly normal lives.

I don't mean like anencephaly or something where, if it were born, the child wouldn't live long and wouldn't have much of a life anyway.

It's not my place to draw a line where a fetus is too disordered to live anyway, that's just kind of my opinion on how handicapped my fetus would have to be to abort. I don't mean to be judgmental towards anybody else.

I myself could never have an abortion, but I respect women enough to trust them to make their own decisions when it comes to their own body and their autonomy.

Yeah, this is me. I'm pro-choice but I don't think I would personally have an abortion unless the fetus was conceived non-consensually.

But I also think abortion's pretty sad, snuffing out the potential for a life and all. It's still the woman's choice and if she thinks she needs one then she should get one, but sad. The fetus isn't a person yet.

When people talk about aborting handicapped fetuses, I cringe. I wonder how much of a handicap people will think is "too much". Doesn't change my stance, I (perhaps naively) believe that most people would keep a child with mild-moderate handicaps, I would.

I hate when I tell my coworkers/family members/acquaintances that I'm studying to become a psychologist and they always have to make a joke like, "I bet you're getting a lot of practice around here! What's my diagnosis?" That you're fucking annoying and should get new material.

And when I'm being my usual quiet and meek self and somebody has to say "Omg, you're so talkative. I can barely hear myself think."

Buuuuuut I'm a hypocrit because I also hate when other people have a lot of irrational hatred towards other people. Not just bigotry, but complaining about other people all the time.

Five mil. So small and sad because I'm a weenie when it comes to making np.