Abortion

Does that word make you uncomfortable?

It should do, especially in the light of something I recently discovered.

After 1991 the legal upper limit for 'social' abortions (i.e. abortion instead of contraception) was lower to 24 weeks of pregnancy.  However, abortion on the grounds of disability became allowable up to birth.  Before this all abortions had to be done before 28 weeks.

Apparently many people are aware of this provision but I wonder if they realise that the actual wording of the bill is not 'disabled' but rather 'seriously handicapped' and what some medical practitioners have take this to mean.

Some medical practitioners have decided that 'seriously handicapped' includes conditions such as a cleft palate or a club foot.  While both these conditions are unsightly, they are so easily corrected by cosmetic surgery after birth that it's almost routine so nobody in their right mind should consider the children born with these conditions 'seriously handicapped'.

Considering that the UK has signed up to all the laws that protect minority groups (that includes the disabled) from unjust discrimination and forbid the unfavourable treatment of one person by another due to disability, then why are we allowing this anomalous denial of the equality of disabled people to continue.  This law clearly states that a disabled baby is less worthy of life than a non-disabled baby.

While members of all three main parties from the House of Commons and the House of Law formed a Parliamentary Inquiry earlier this year to review the law and how it is put into practise, there still needs to be a public response to this law.  Only then will the lives of unborn disabled people be protected.

One way of responding is to visit www.abortionanddisability.org

Another is to simple talk about it.  Talk to your family, talk to your friends, talk to social clubs.  One of the major lacks in our society that leads to babies being aborted on grounds of disability is the lack of support for Mothers' with disabled new-borns.  Being the mother of a new born baby is stressful and exhausting in the best of circumstances.  Being the mother of a new born who's disability leads to strangers turning away in pity is heart breaking.  One of the joys of motherhood is people coming over to coo at the baby.  Now imagine that being taken away because people don't want to look at a baby with a cleft palate.

There needs to be a mental shift in society towards people with disabilities.  We need to start looking at people in wheelchairs, talking to those with deformities and scarring, exploring the minds of those with mental difficulties to find their talent, their gift that means they can give back to society.

Because it occurred to me there other day when I watched the film 'Warm Bodies' - what fantasy creature most reflects the popular perception of autistics?  Well let's see - can't co-ordinate properly, can't communicate properly, have very little empathy with those they hurt and have been referred to as an "epidemic".  I do believe that's a zombie.

Well in 'Warm Bodies' they save the world by teaching the zombies how to interact and connect again and the metaphor still holds true, autistics can be taught how to connect and interact and relate to people.  It just takes a lot of time and effort on the part of so-called normal people when we're a little slow to catch on to what you're trying to teach us.  Time and effort that people won't be willing to give while the attitude that autistics should be "euthanized" (to quote that truly offensive letter sent to the mother of an autistic boy in Ontario) is still present in our society.

The only way to get rid of that sort of ignorance is to start breaking the taboo that still surrounds disability and the easiest way to do that is to talk about it.