[Ohio-talk] Disabilities and their portrayal

Fri Jan 31 13:53:12 UTC 2014

Hello Lillie and All,
I agree that we could get carried away with prenatal testing.
Some of our children wouldn't be able to speak for themselves about what they wanted to do about ending their life. I am glad that there are protections for children if a parent would choose Lethal Injection if it ever comes to this.
My personal opinion is that ending life in utero is the same as ending a life after birth.
I think that we need to help families who need our support.
I believe that's one of the things that NFB does so well.
Over the years I have been involved in many support group for parents of children with Disabilities and I have found them to be very helpful.
I hope we can all work with families as they begin their walk with a child with a disability.
This is an opportunity for all involved.
Colleen Roth

----- Original Message -----
From: Lillie Pennington <lilliepennington at fuse.net>
To: "'Ationfb of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List'" <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Date: Thursday, January 30, 2014 9:27 pm
Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] Disabilities and their portrayal

>
>
> Hi Kaiti and All,
> 
> Forgive me if I am repeating what has been already said. 
> I was quite disturbed by what happened in this classroom and the question
> itself. 
> Is it really that doctors decision, who in most cases is a distant isolated
> factor in that persons life? Is it even the parents decision, who supposedly
> know what is best for their children? Only you know what you can handle/are
> capable of. Can these people who lack the true understanding honestly truly
> make these unbiased decisions based on just cold, hard, facts and not their
> personal opinions of what they think is best? Even, for example a parent who
> is blind and has a child who is blind cannot truly make these decisions
> based on what they think is best. Times have changed most likely and that
> persons experiences are tainting their decision. As Atticus Finch said in To
> Kill a Mockingbird, you can not truly understand someone until you have
> truly walked a mile in their shoes. 
> I know in the context of the book it was a completely different situation,
> but I think it can be applied here and in many other situations. 
> For example, if I as a visually impaired person have a child that turns out
> to have a condition that they are unable to walk and are in a wheel chair, I
> as a person with a disability cannot simply think that they have no chances
> of a successful life and must take actions to ensure that that child does
> not have to face life at all. My efforts would most likely be helping that
> child transition and having as functional of a life as they could. 
> Of course, I am assuming and it would depend on what that child wanted. 
> 
> I have one more thing that could be considered very contrivertial. There are
> prenatal tests that can determine whether a child has certain medical
> conditions, such as downs syndrome. I am not sure although I think they are
> on the market, but what if the mother undergoes the test, finds out her
> child has downs, and then aborts the child? What if it gets to a point where
> hair color and other surface traits can be tested for? 
> 
> These are my opinions and I hope I haven't offended anyone. I apologize for
> the slightly rambling tone of this. 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti
> Shelton
> Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 11:21 AM
> To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
> Subject: [Ohio-talk] Disabilities and their portrayal
> 
> Hi all, 
> 
>  
> 
> I made quite a stir in my medical ethics class this morning.  We were asked
> to consider an example from our book, which concerned a 10 year old boy who
> was according to the book having all these horrible issues as a result of
> CP.  Some of the things the book claimed about this boy were not
> characteristics of CP at all, and it even claimed that CP was genetic itself
> rather than caused by complications.  The question was, "Is it moral to kill
> Johnny via lethal injection to end his pain and the suffering of his
> parents?"  I wasn't going to say anything at first, but then I started
> questioning things.  Is it moral to kill someone if you think they're in
> pain, but they don't have the autonomy to tell you whether they are or not?
> Is it moral to kill a child when his parents are making the request?  Is it
> moral to make this decision without full and accurate knowledge of what the
> condition really is?  
> 
>  
> 
> And you know what happened?  When I contradicted the book the professor was
> first flustered, then when I started answering questions with the knowledge
> I had he told me I was ahead of the curve, and proceeded with his lecture,
> using the false information and pretenses the book provided.  I was shocked.
> This is a class of pre-med majors (and me who is the only non-medical
> specific person in the class), and it boggled me that this sort of stuff
> would be fed to the next generation of doctors, dietitions, exercise
> scientists, etc.  I know this is just an undergraduate class, but shouldn't
> doctors always take a patient-centered approach, or a human-centered
> approach for that matter?  And I'm reminded of "The Right to Live in the
> World," and how what that speech says applies to this situation.  The
> misinformation in my bioethics textbook only substantiates the claim that
> people with disabilities lead miserable or terribly painful lives, and that
> misninformation in the minds and hands of future doctors is a scary thing to
> me.  
> 
>  
> 
> Anyway, just thought I'd continue discussion on this topic with others who
> will get it.  I'm sorry if I ranted a little; I got a little passionate on
> this issue.  
> 
>  
> 
> Kaiti Shelton
> 
> University of Dayton---2016
> 
> Music Therapy Major, Psychology Minor, Clarinet
> 
> Ohio Association of Blind Students, President 
> 
> NFB Community Service Group, Service Project Committee Chair
> 
> Sigma Alpha Iota-Delta Sigma
> 
>  
> 
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