This is a horrible say, but don't you think it is better to abort a child w/ mental disabilities?

Question

I think I say that now, because I have not had children, but to me, children who are "normal" come to this world that is just ugly, and I know how highschool was and I would never want to do that again, so I can't understand in bringing a child w/ mental disabilities to this world, when you know they will never be out of yoru house and that you will have to care for them till the day you die or have someone elsedo it, if they outlive you. My cousin has down syndrome and that kid had so many surgeries, I just dont understand why you would want to put a kid through that, they suffer more than actually enjoy life.

Answer 1

Your mom should have aborted you because of your obvious mental disability.  You have the worst LD of all- you are hateful, bigoted and ignorant.

Answer 2

no its not ... mental disabilities have different ranges .

life is hard for anyone ... they are the sweetest ppl and most of people with down syndrome think there the same as everyone else unless to tell them what they have. they are humans they have a disability but they're still human and put yourself in their place would you to be aborted because you had a disability?  there's adoption , many families especially retired teachers take in special needs ppl.

Answer 3

Of couse not.  What is wrong with you?

Answer 4

are you serious? How do you suppose a parent is going to know whether their child will have a mental disability or not? Even if it were an obvious type, in most cases it would be too late to abort unless you are okay with aborting a baby close to term.

My son has a learning disability which would be considered a mental disability, guess I should have aborted him huh?  My son is a happy energetic fun loving 8 yr old in second grade with many friends and a good life.  Who comes into a special education forum and says kids who have mental disabilities should have been aborted? you're an idiot!

Answer 5

yes i agree not to mention that you would suffer as well

Answer 6

In my opinion, its not really anyones right to decide that for someone else.

Also most people with mental disabilities don't have to live at home their whole lives. There are plenty of group homes and assisted living places that will help them to live with some assistance. They can also go to adult day care type places for activities and social interactions, etc. I don't think there's really any way to say if a child with a disability would turn out to be miserable any more than a non disabled child would- you're really just saying that because of prejudice/ignorance. Lots of people think that, but its not really true from the disabled people that I have known.

My sister has a severe disability and when she was born the doctors said to let her die, and when she lived everyone said to put her in an institution because of the reasons you listed. She wound up graduating from an Ivy League school and just got her PhD. She lives by herself and is perfectly happy.

Answer 7

As a person who has worked with children with special needs in a classroom, I would say that I would never abort a child of mine who had special needs. They may have what we would consider "tough" lives. To them however, their lives are wonderful. Some of the happiest, funniest, sweetest and most joyful people I have ever met are people with disabilities. People with disabilities are no longer left in their houses, they work and they learn with everyone else.

Yes, it would be a lot of work to raise a child with disabilities but the love you would receive from them would two fold.

Answer 8

i dont think that they should get aborted . they have just as much right to live as any " normal person" , is anyone really "normal" ?

Answer 9

Do you really think they suffer more? I have a family member with Down's Syndrome and she is very happy.  Sure, she has medical issues, but so do I.  Some people believe that children with special needs are special in many ways.  How would you decide which should live and which should die?  I think that is a terribly immoral position to have.

Answer 10

Its hard to say. I know I would rather my parents aborted me than to be disabled.

Answer 11

I love them! They are so nice to people! it's not like they do anything to you!

Answer 12

I work at a training facility that has ever characteristic of a mental institution that you can think of. Parents in the 60s-70s dropped their kids off here and then left. If abortion was a legal option for parents back then, most of the my clients wouldn't be alive.

But spend one day out here ... and you'll see why bringing them into the world was the best thing the parents could have done.

When I start having a bad day worrying about my life and problems, I walk down to a cottage and realize that they have all these problems yet are more than excited to see me walking through the door.

Special needs kids and adults have a way of bringing the meaning of life, love, and family back into those who need it.

Abortion is a neutral topic for me ... I do not support it nor claim it's horrible (I have had 2 myself for personal reasons). But to abort a child due to the possibility of it being abnormal, is discrimination.

Answer 13

I agree! Life is hard enough as it is!

Answer 14

I think you underestimate kids.  We have an accommodations school within our high school.  The kids there all have varying degrees of mental retardation.  The kids in the reg. ed high school are very supportive of these kids and are not cruel at all.  The accommodations kids have a foods class with a regular division class.  The regular division kids love helping the AS kids cook.  They learn a lot from each other and it is really a wonderful thing to see!!

Answer 15

no, i dont,,,i believe that child survived for some reason,,,,,,if not to help someone,,,,,,then to inspire others.  never underestimate a disabled child!!!!

Answer 16

No. Having a child with a disability opens your eyes to the world and lets you see the things in a whole different way. It makes you appreciate things more and teaches you a lot about life and it feels great to be able to teach that child something and the pride when he accomplishes something he's worked so hard on to try and figure out.

Answer 17

no-people with all types of disabilities can have fantastic lives-you don't know their potential-

they can lead happy, productive lives-you are not putting them through anything bad--

the only plus side to aborting a baby that  would be disabled is that they would not get stuck with a parent like you

there are many people who are not menatlly disabled that are miserable-why don't we jsut abort everybody to prevent that--I would guess that there is a higher percentage of people with menatl disabilities that are contect in life than people without...

Answer 18

Let's see. If we did this, here are the people who would not have helped our world:

"People with Mental Illness Enrich Our Lives"

Information about famous people throughout history who have had a serious mental illness.

Abraham Lincoln

The revered sixteenth President of the United States suffered from severe and incapacitating depressions that occasionally led to thoughts of suicide, as documented in numerous biographies by Carl Sandburg.

Virginia Woolf

The British novelist who wrote To the Lighthouse and Orlando experienced the mood swings of bipolar disorder characterized by feverish periods of writing and weeks immersed in gloom. Her story is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr.

Lionel Aldridge

A defensive end for Vince Lombardi's legendary Green Bay Packers of the 1960's, Aldridge played in two Super Bowls. In the 1970's, he suffered from schizophrenia and was homeless for two and a half years. Until his death in 1998, he gave inspirational talks on his battle against paranoid schizophrenia. His story is the story of numerous newspaper articles.

Eugene O'Neill

The famous playwright, author of Long Day's Journey Into Night and Ah, Wilderness!, suffered from clinical depression, as documented in Eugene O'Neill by Olivia E. Coolidge.

Ludwig van Beethoven

The brilliant composer experienced bipolar disorder, as documented in The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb.

Gaetano Donizetti

The famous opera singer suffered from bipolar disorder, as documented in Donizetti and the World Opera in Italy, Paris and Vienna in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century by Herbert Weinstock.

Robert Schumann

The "inspired poet of human suffering" experienced bipolar disorder, as discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr.

Leo Tolstoy

Author of War and Peace, Tolstoy revealed the extent of his own mental illness in the memoir Confession. His experiences is also discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and The Inner World of Mental Illness: A Series of First Person Accounts of What It Was Like by Bert Kaplan.

Vaslov Nijinsky

The dancer's battle with schizophrenia is documented in his autobiography, The Diary of Vaslov Nijinksy.

John Keats

The renowned poet's mental illness is documented in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and The Broken Brain: The biological Revolution in Psychiatry by Nancy Andreasen, M.D.

Tennessee Williams

The playwright gave a personal account of his struggle with clinical depression in his own Memoirs. His experience is also documented in Five O'Clock Angel: Letters of Tennessee Williams to Maria St. Just, 1948-1982; The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams by Donald Spoto, and Tennessee: Cry of the Heart by Dotson.

Vincent Van Gogh

The celebrated artist's bipolar disorder is discussed in The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb and Dear Theo, The Autobiography of Van Gogh.

Isaac Newton

The scientist's mental illness is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb.

Ernest Hemingway

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist's suicidal depression is examined in the True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Ernest Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him by Denis Brian.

Sylvia Plath

The poet and novelist ended her lifelong struggle with clinical depresion by taking own life, as reported in A Closer Look at Ariel: A Memory of Sylvia Plath by nancy Hunter-Steiner.

Michelangelo

The mental illness of one of the world's greatest artistic geniuses is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr.

Winston Churchill

"Had he been a stable and equable man, he could never have inspired the nation. In 1940, when all the odds were against Britain, a leader of sober judgment might well have concluded that we were finished," wrote Anthony Storr about Churchill's bipolar disorder in Churchill's Black Dog, Kafka's Mice, and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind.

Vivien Leigh

The Gone with the Wind star suffered from mental illness, as documented in Vivien Leigh: A Biography by Ann Edwards.

Jimmy Piersall

The baseball player for the Boston Red Sox who suffered from bipolar disorder detailed his experience in The Truth Hurts.

Patty Duke

The Academy Award-winning actress told of her bipolar disorder in her autobiography and made-for-TV move Call Me Anna and A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic-Depressive Illness, co-authored by Gloria Hochman.

Charles Dickens

One of the greatest authors in the English language suffered from clinical depression, as documented in The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb, and Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph by Edgar Johnson.

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