My brother has DS. I don't think we should fetishize neurological disorders. It is a heartbreaking disease: watching him lose the ability to communicate effecti

My brother has DS. I don't think we should fetishize neurological disorders. It is a heartbreaking disease: watching him lose the ability to communicate effectively with the world and withdraw inward has been the hardest thing I've had to see. DS cuts people off from the world and isolates them; no one should have that kind of loneliness and alienation forced on them. Also, let's be clear about this: people with DS have a very high incidence of early dementia and Parkinson's disease. If we had a neurotypical group of people that had a mutation that caused a similarly high incidence of early dementia and Parkinson's, there'd be zero hesitation about treating them at birth so that they wouldn't have to suffer from dementia at age 35.