4 ms·

When I was a child, I remember to regularly see other children with disabilities. Recently, I figured that I see almost no children with real mental/physical di

by geff82 9y ago

When I was a child, I remember to regularly see other children with disabilities. Recently, I figured that I see almost no children with real mental/physical disabilities any more. Then it dawned upon me that they are probably all "killed" before birth when the doctors detect their problem. Can't tell exactly what I feel from a moral standpoint.

celticninja 9y ago
Or perhaps you are no longer in an environment where you see them. Children with disabilities still exist but do you frequent places where children in general go? I see them often at theme/play parks, swimming pools and at my childrens school. I don't see disabled children at the club's, bars I frequent or in my workplace but I don't see non disabled children either. Further we are better at catering for people with these disabilities and their families. Some of the soft play areas I took my children to when they were very young were often designed with autistic and disabled children primarily in mind and we saw many families who would use the facilities with both disabled and non disabled children, the only real difference was the age of the children, disabled children tended to use the facilities for longer than non disabled children e.g. by 4 or 5 years old my children were less interested in sensory rooms whereas disabled (especially the most severely disabled) children would use these rooms at 10 or 11 years of age (possibly longer). The test mentioned in the article is also available in the UK and the option to terminate a pregnancy when is child has a significant health issue or disability is also there.
- geff82 9y ago
  I am a father myself in Frankfurt, Germany, where we have one of the highest relative number of children compared to the rest of the (rather childless) country.
  - celticninja 9y ago
    As someone else mentioned, we are also getting better at treating disabilities in children through better healthcare and parental nutrition. Cerebral Palsy, for example, can be congenital where something happens to the child in the womb or acquired through brain injury as a child, both of these can be prevented (or likelihood reduced significantly) with better medical care, there is also genetic predisposition which cannot be prevented (currently) by modern medicine. So it doesnt mean all children with cerebral palsy (and this is a very apparent/visual disability) are being aborted, it may mean we are better at preventing it occurring in the first place. Spina bifada is prevented by ensuring that the mother has enough folic acid. I have an uncle with Spina Bifada (he is in his late 60's now) but it is so easily preventable in first world nations (folic acid is readily available as a supplement) that it is likely due to better healthcare and not abortion. There are so many other changes in healthcare attitudes such as knowing that drinking alcohol/smoking while pregnant is not healthy and can impact on the unborn child that we take for granted, but 50 years ago they prescribed guinness to expectant mothers because of its supposed high iron content. TO assume it is all down to aborting unhealthy children is to deny the advances that we have made with modern healthcare.

by geff82 9y ago

celticninja 9y ago

Or perhaps you are no longer in an environment where you see them. Children with disabilities still exist but do you frequent places where children in general go? I see them often at theme/play parks, swimming pools and at my childrens school. I don't see disabled children at the club's, bars I frequent or in my workplace but I don't see non disabled children either. Further we are better at catering for people with these disabilities and their families. Some of the soft play areas I took my children to when they were very young were often designed with autistic and disabled children primarily in mind and we saw many families who would use the facilities with both disabled and non disabled children, the only real difference was the age of the children, disabled children tended to use the facilities for longer than non disabled children e.g. by 4 or 5 years old my children were less interested in sensory rooms whereas disabled (especially the most severely disabled) children would use these rooms at 10 or 11 years of age (possibly longer). The test mentioned in the article is also available in the UK and the option to terminate a pregnancy when is child has a significant health issue or disability is also there.

geff82 9y ago
I am a father myself in Frankfurt, Germany, where we have one of the highest relative number of children compared to the rest of the (rather childless) country.
- celticninja 9y ago
  As someone else mentioned, we are also getting better at treating disabilities in children through better healthcare and parental nutrition. Cerebral Palsy, for example, can be congenital where something happens to the child in the womb or acquired through brain injury as a child, both of these can be prevented (or likelihood reduced significantly) with better medical care, there is also genetic predisposition which cannot be prevented (currently) by modern medicine. So it doesnt mean all children with cerebral palsy (and this is a very apparent/visual disability) are being aborted, it may mean we are better at preventing it occurring in the first place. Spina bifada is prevented by ensuring that the mother has enough folic acid. I have an uncle with Spina Bifada (he is in his late 60's now) but it is so easily preventable in first world nations (folic acid is readily available as a supplement) that it is likely due to better healthcare and not abortion. There are so many other changes in healthcare attitudes such as knowing that drinking alcohol/smoking while pregnant is not healthy and can impact on the unborn child that we take for granted, but 50 years ago they prescribed guinness to expectant mothers because of its supposed high iron content. TO assume it is all down to aborting unhealthy children is to deny the advances that we have made with modern healthcare.