Help Genetic Engineering And Disabilities

[Wishing Oceans]

Hey everyone. 🙂

So, I'm currently working on a school project about the issue of whether or not disabled parents should have the right to genetically engineer their child to also have that disability.

Now, I understand that this is a quite a controversial topic, but please everyone, stay civil and respectful. 😉

So! For my project, I think that it would be interesting to see a wide range of developed opinions on this subject, maybe for some statistics. 🙂

Personally, I'm quite pro this idea. Primarily, many "handicapped" people don't view their disabilities as disabilities as much as differences, perhaps in culture.

Now, let's take a certain disability for example... Hm, dwarfism. People with dwarfism cannot have their own kids if the kids don't also possess the disability. An average sized child could easily overpower the parents and even hurt the parents during a tantrum. The parents would only be able to properly care for and control a child with dwarfism. Admittedly, there is always the option to adopt. But it seems a bit unfair that they should be forced to adopt when no other "group" is forced to.

Another disability: Deafness. The deaf community is alive and prospering. They are another group that view their disability as more of a difference in culture. They are quite content with their lifestyle, and even view the "oral" community as discriminatory towards them. It makes sense that they would want to choose a child that could be a full part of their culture.

So, thoughts? And remember guys, you may think this is a complete outrage, but be respectful. Thank you.

 

[Tome]

My first reaction was a big fat *NO*. I still think that way for most disabilities, and sorry but... Deaf people wouldn't pick to be deaf if they had a chance to choose when they were born. I think it's very wrong to force a disability on a new human being born. Couples of my friends and also my brother have had a disability since they were born, and NONE of them appreciate it. Sure they try and live with it, do the best they can, but if they had a choice, no WAY they would have choosen to be disabled.

Now the only thing I might somewhat agree with is about dwarfism. I think you brought a good point, and it would be harder(but not impossible) for these parents to control their children. Still this is just one case, and I honestly can't really say much about it because I've never been friend with someone affected by dwarfism. 😛

My conclusion though is that it's totally unfair to the baby being born to purposely disable him/her. In my opinion parents shouldn't choose how their children will be. A new baby being born has his/her own life and he/she's not the property of anybody. Good parents should understand that. It's a new life they created and their role is mainly to raise and take care of the child. 🙂

 

[MandaMeena]

I definitely understand where parents with disabilities are coming from when they say that they want to preserve their culture. But the same could be said about parents who don't want their child to marry a person of color. The parents could argue that they are just protecting their culture/heritage, but it is never right, even in the case of a parental-child relationship, to mess with somebody's genetic makeup like that. I know, those two examples aren't exactly the same. And besides, if these people were truly fit to be good, loving parents, wouldn't they want their child to not have to face the same discrimination that they themselves have their whole lives? I always thought that parents are supposed to want their children to have more opportunities than they did. I would never purposefully hinder my own, or any other child.

I do, however, find this topic interesting. 🙂

Oh, and remember that show about the family with dwarfism? Both of the parents had the condition, as well as two(?) of their children, while their other two were average-size kids. They seemed to be able to handle them well enough. Although, the dad was pretty much loaded, so they most likely had some help.

 

[NY State of Mind]

It's a good topic Ori....however, I hate the idea of parents automatically making someone disabled. Why would you enforce that struggle and disadvantage on your child? What's next? Your gonna choose if your kid is gay/or not...black/white skinned, etc...there's many parents out there who wish they could take away the disabilities of their children so they wouldn't have to go thru those disadvantages. You don't need your child to be blind, deaf, dwarf, etc. to raise and love them, and get back the same treatment.

 

[zobothehobo]

I get what you're saying Ori, but I disagree with the idea of genetically engineering your baby at all. I think the only exception I could see is dwarfism. Other than that genetically engineering your baby to be like you and have your disabilities (or differences as they like to say) is ridiculous. If they think about their disabilities as simple differences, that makes genetically engineering their baby to have that same disability on the same level as genetically engineering their baby to have their same eye color, hair color, eye shape, etc. The only reason I can sorta see how this could benefit the dwarfs is because normal size children could hurt the parents. However, in my experience, I've found many "little people" to be resentful of "big people" because (and this is a quote from a "little person" I talked to myself) "["big people"] think of themselves as normal and ["little people"] as not." I've seen they're extremely protective of one another and their disability. I've read studies that show that "little people" in particular are very proud of their disability because it makes them "different" and "special." Before I would let a "little person" couple genetically engineer their baby to be "little" as well, I'd have them go through an interview and evaluation process to make sure they weren't just trying to have a "little" baby so they could continue to be more unique and rather they were concerned about their safety raising a normal sized child.

 

[Justme]

Argh I read this whole thing wrong. I will post later again when I am more awake.

 

[Big Damn Hero]

Personally, I'm quite pro this idea. Primarily, many "handicapped" people don't view their disabilities as disabilities as much as differences, perhaps in culture.

Now, let's take a certain disability for example... Hm, dwarfism. People with dwarfism cannot have their own kids if the kids don't also possess the disability. An average sized child could easily overpower the parents and even hurt the parents during a tantrum. The parents would only be able to properly care for and control a child with dwarfism. Admittedly, there is always the option to adopt. But it seems a bit unfair that they should be forced to adopt when no other "group" is forced to.

Another disability: Deafness. The deaf community is alive and prospering. They are another group that view their disability as more of a difference in culture. They are quite content with their lifestyle, and even view the "oral" community as discriminatory towards them. It makes sense that they would want to choose a child that could be a full part of their culture.

So, thoughts? And remember guys, you may think this is a complete outrage, but be respectful. Thank you.

Just out of interest, how many deaf people/people with dwarfism do you know?

outraged.

Will come back to this when I calm down.

 

[caitaintdead]

In my opinion parents shouldn't choose how their children will be. A new baby being born has his/her own life and he/she's not the property of anybody. Good parents should understand that. It's a new life they created and their role is mainly to raise and take care of the child. 🙂

I agree.

Parents should want what is best for the child, not what is most convenient for them.

 

[Taake]

I get what you're saying Ori, but I disagree with the idea of genetically engineering your baby at all.

Agreed.

Honestly, this is the kind of hubris that is one day going to doom mankind. Thinking we can play God. No matter how good the 'intentions' are I think it's sick and a little bit too 'Brave new world' for me. Science like this could potentially help people but what's the prize? Not to mention - science like this can and would be abused in the end.

To quote Paul Ballard:"We split the atom, we make a bomb. We come up with
anything new, the first thing we do is destroy, manipulate, control. Its human nature."

 

[Mumrik]

This is wrong on so many levels.

I think people who are actually considering forcing a disadvantage - I say disadvantage here purposely, because who says this would be restricted to only disabilities? You could change anything - on their child before it's even born shouldn't be allowed to have any.

And, to second QC's question, how many deaf people do you know? One of my best friends' parents aren't completely deaf, but hearing impaired on different levels. They're very happy with their lives and have learned to live with it (though they, for example, have problems travelling due to only knowing sign language and German) but are very glad their daughter didn't inherit it. The same goes for their friends and their children. I actually can't think of any parent who would want to make their child restricted in any way on purpose. Sure, you can usually find ways to live with something "out of the norm" (I use quotes because I can't think of a better term right now), but why should you if you don't absolutely have to?

What if the child ever asked their parents what they would have done if it didn't inherit their handicap, and they tell the truth (which they should)? I don't imagine it would help the parent-child relationship.

Children should not already be tampered with before they even breath on their own, especially for such a selfish reason. It is a selfish reason, because who benefits from it except the parents not having to come out of their comfort zone? Certainly not the child.

 

[xfivebyfive]

I don't think parents should be able to force a genetic disabiltiy on their children. And as for dwarfs not being able to raise normal sized children that's ridiculous. They do it all the time, in fact there is like 4 television shows about dwarf parents raising normal sized children on tv now.

I mean I highly doubt if a parent had say autism they would want their child to have it, it wouldn't even be an issue. Why would anyone want to give their children a disability. You want the best for your kids and give them all the oportunities you can, not hinder them.

 

[Justme]

No I don't think you should do this, I can't think of a reason why you would want to.

I am not against genetic "engineering" though, just not for this purpose. Maybe I could be convinced, but I doubt it.

 

[Big Damn Hero]

Okay, I've calmed down now.

Firstly; why on earth would any parent in their right mind want to give their child the same challenges in life that they've had to face? Even, if, as you (in my opinion, wrongly) say about the community thing, most children who's parents are deaf learn to sign from an early age (in fact, teaching Makaton to children before they can talk enhances their communication skills before they have the ability to talk and therefore means that once they've learnt to communicate they then learn to talk and not the other way around, but that's not the point). There is no reason that people who can hear can't have conversations with those that can't if they know how to sign (and if they don't, you can always write/use lip-reading) and most children with deaf parents/deaf siblings grow up using sign language as a form of communication anyway.

As for dwarfism, many parents (whether the mum, dad, or both of the parents) have dwarfism and not only produce (for lack of a better word) "normal" children, they're also bloody marvelous parents too. Yes there are challenges, but there's also help out there and I can't imagine any parents putting their child through numerous health complications just to make their life a little easier.

Basically, just nonononononoooo.

 

[Wishing Oceans]

All right, thanks for the feedback everyone! I'll certainly take all of these views into consideration. 🙂

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Well, I don't even think that parents should have the option to choose the sex of their child, so no, I don't think they should be able to control if their child as a disabilty or not.

I can see why this is a controversial topic. Believe it or not, I hadn't heard anything about this. I must we way out of the loop, lol.

What class are you doing this for, Oriana? I can tell you, we didn't study that type of stuff in school when I was your age! 😉

My conclusion though is that it's totally unfair to the baby being born to purposely disable him/her. In my opinion parents shouldn't choose how their children will be. A new baby being born has his/her own life and he/she's not the property of anybody. Good parents should understand that. It's a new life they created and their role is mainly to raise and take care of the child

I agree. I'm uncomfortable with the idea of people generically enginnering their kids. What's next? Skin color? IQ? It makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Children deserve the same respect as adults, and that includes allowing them to come into the world naturally and without interference.

That said, I understand where some of these parents are coming from. I'm not a parent, but I believe that parenthood is about acceptance, but convenience.

If my mother "engineered" me to be deaf just because she was, I'd be very resentful - no matter how much support I had.

 

[Misty]

I don't think parents should have the right to genetically engineer their child to having their disability at all. I think making your child struggle with your issues is just a sick thing to do. I'm not a parent, but I would be happy if my child didn't have to suffer from disabilities that I might have had. And I also think it's bad to choose their skin color, hair color, and even gender as well, because it they can have problems from that when they grow up. In my opinion, you should let your child's body grow on it's own and not mess around with it.

And Orianna, what class are you doing this project for, because I never studied this in middle school either?

 

[Wishing Oceans]

For those who asked: Social Studies. The assignment was merely to choose an "issue" (Could be in the school, town, state, or country) and make a superb (and huge) presentation on it by Tuesday. I was originally going to do Homosexual Discrimination, but two other groups also wanted to! So this was the first thing that popped in my mind, lol. I like controversial topics. 🙂

Thanks to all of the additional posters!

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I hope your presentation goes well. 🙂