Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Sarah Palin, Down Syndrome, and Enough

You know, I really think it is enough. Ever since Ms. Palin gave birth (and more so since her nomination), the topic of her choice during pregnancy to continue the pregnancy has been news.
I mean, how newsworthy is this?!? While the abortion rate for Down syndrome conceptions is high, Ms. Palin’s choice is not an unheard-of option. While I personally made the same choice, I don’t think she needs to be bestowed knighthood for it. And, by the same token, I find all this talk about how will she care for the baby also hog wash. Are there no mothers of children with Down syndrome who go out to work? Yes, there are, and plenty.
Either tack gives the impression that having a child with Down syndrome is a terribly heavy burden. I’m not going to say that it is easy. It isn’t. But, for heaven’s sake, I think it is time to put things into perspective, and get onto the many topics this campaign SHOULD be about.

Enough is enough.

5 comments:

mother in israel said...

Thank you for answering my question. I agree that the fact that the baby has DS should not be an issue.

Anonymous said...

I am not as fevered over the fact that Palin has a political platform to educate the public about Down syndrome. I am waiting to see how this possible influence will unfold in North America.

In fairness, I have not read any articles about Palin so I don't know if she has talked much about Down syndrome. I think it is fair to say that her focus is on the political arena, and not on solely supporting the Down syndrome community.

(Although I would be interested in knowing how she feels about the Special Olympics movement to eliminate the use of the word "retard" and the uproar over the movie, "Tropical Thunder".)

I am pleased that someone in the public eye does have a strong connection to the Down syndrome community though. Perhaps in the future, less emphasis will be on any perceived hardships the public see when parenting a child with special needs and more emphasis will be on how people with special needs contribute to our lives.

rickismom said...

It is not Pallin who is talking too much about Down syndrome, it is the press... that in an effort to sell, have made anything and everything into an issue (a media circuss.

Jewish Side of Babysitter said...

Well for those that don't know anyone personally with down syndrome they may think it's a bigger deal than you do. It's only because you have a DS child that you love so much that you don't see how others might view it differently. That is good in a way.

I used to be like that with my younger siblings, I loved them so much, I would never want to hurt them and I used to even try to stop my mother from disciplining them because I loved them so much. Then came a time when I had friends over and they would always say how their siblings are so annoying, and when my little sister would do something bad, they would say "why don't you beat her up for that", and I would say "how can I?, I love her too much, she's my sister". Then somewhere along the line I guess it all went to my head and I started seeing my siblings as a bit annoying sometimes. But sometimes I wish that I would still see them the same way I used to.

rickismom said...

The point here is that although one would expect some reaction, it has still been blown WAY out of proportion, which is also in a sense, a critical evaluation of life with a special child (IE., Its TOO hard...)