We have this idea that if you’re not in “perfect health” that you’re abnormal – you have a disorder.
I don’t think that’s fair.
For something to be normal it must be “in accordance with scientific laws”. The Merriam Webster suggests that normal is defined as “occurring naturally”.
If that is the case, if we would trust this dictionary for other definitions and therefore can accept this same definition – then Down’s syndrome is NORMAL. Multiple sclerosis is NORMAL. Cystic fibrosis is NORMAL. Many illnesses are NORMAL.
But maybe that definition of normal doesn’t satisfy…. Maybe we think normal should be a construct we examine within the context of the majority.
STILL.
If we define normal based on societal norms, based on that which describes the majority of people, then having blond hair is a DISORDER. Having a university education is ABNORMAL. If we truly compare ourselves to the majority of people – we would all be abnormal in one sense or another.
And if we accept that, then I guess I’m okay with identifying disease states as abnormal.
My issue, then, arises when we rank ourselves on a vertical ladder that says one state of abnormality is greater or worse than another. When we accept a certain amount of deviance from the norm, but arbitrarily define a cut off, below which, we no longer believe life should exist.
When does this happen, you ask.
90% of women who undergo prenatal screening and receive a positive test for Down’s syndrome (which is neither 100% specific nor sensitive, indicating false positives do occur), will choose to abort their child. Those statistics do not hold if the child is found to have light hair – so that degree of abnormality is okay. They also do not hold if the child is found to have an extra finger or a cleft palate – a greater degree of abnormality, but still acceptable. Why.
As far back as the human family can be traced, these “abnormal states” have been present. People with different coloured eyes and different coloured skin, who may not represent the majority, have maintained a right to remain a part of our family. Should not, too, those with Down’s syndrome? Or cystic fibrosis? Should they not be extended that same welcome in to this world?
As genetic screening becomes increasingly wide-spread and abortion rates remain devastatingly high, let us not forget that our individual choices determine the future of our human family – which is strengthened, not broken, by its great diversity.
