Looking for Suffering in All the Wrong Places
“Down syndrome is not a disease. It’s caused by a relatively common genetic accident resulting in an extra 21st chromosome. Although some people with Down syndrome are susceptible to certain medical problems, they are not sick simply because they have Down syndrome. We are frustrated when the doctors who treat my son seem confounded by the idea that someone can be both healthy and disabled.”
“When we do experience suffering, its causes are often systemic. We suffer when we hear “retard” jokes in Hollywood films and coming from the White House, when teachers think our children can’t learn, or when they are excluded from social opportunities.
These problems aren’t caused by Down syndrome, but by ignorance and prejudice.”
