Posted on 05/03/2012 6:36:14 PM PDT by Coleus
When Jonathan Frederick Will was born 40 years ago — on May 4, 1972, his father’s 31st birthday — the life expectancy for people with Down syndrome was about 20 years. That is understandable.
The day after Jon was born, a doctor told Jon’s parents the first question for them was whether they intended to take Jon home from the hospital. Nonplussed, they said they thought that is what parents do with newborns.
Not doing so was, however, still considered an acceptable choice for parents who might prefer to institutionalize or put up for adoption children thought to have bleak futures. Whether warehoused or just allowed to languish from lack of stimulation and attention, people with Down syndrome, not given early and continuing interventions, were generally thought to be incapable of living well, and hence usually didn’t live as long as they could have.
Down syndrome is a congenital condition resulting from an extra 21st chromosome. It causes varying degrees of mental retardation and some physical abnormalities, including small stature, a single crease across the center of the palms, flatness of the back of the head, a configuration of the tongue that impedes articulation and a slight upward eye slant. In 1972, people with Down syndrome were still commonly called Mongoloids.
Now they are called American citizens, about 400,000 of them, and their life expectancy is 60. Much has improved. There has, however, been moral regression.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
All the bickering politics aside, some people walk the walk while all the others talk. God bless you and your family George Will...
Lovely article.
Would that we all could get a little slice of serenity.
That year I participated in the first tri-State "Hand-in-Hand" project which brought student volunteers together with special needs individuals to enjoy a recreational carnival.
IIRC, this idea to bring together the fully abled with the less abled community was a result of Geraldo Rivera's expose on the Willowbrook.
Franks and beans!!
Yes, March of Dimes is bad.
But this was a very sweet article.
George Will is proud of his son, we all want to feel that way about our children.
Thumbs up George...
Bump
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