Weekend reading: 2nd - 3rd May 2015

Willingness to try again and again is naturally inspiring
Beverly Beckham, Boston Globe, 26th April 2015
... Epiphanies come when you least expect them. My granddaughter Lucy loves to sing. She’s 11 and knows the words to every song from “Annie” and “Frozen” and “Gypsy” and “Into the Woods.” She dresses up like Annie and Elsa and Gypsy Rose Lee, long white gloves and all. And, when she sings, in her head, she is Annie and Elsa and Gypsy Rose Lee and Little Red.

In reality, Lucy has Down syndrome, which means she has low muscle tone and has to work extra hard to get the muscles in her mouth to form words clearly. Often it’s hard to understand her even when she’s singing.

But she sings anyway. She doesn’t slump away and say, I can’t do that. She sings out with joy and enthusiasm, and I wonder, as I struggle for a single hour in an optional exercise class, what propels this child?

Words Can Hurt

Global Down Syndrome Foundation

Everyone knows words can hurt. For people with Down syndrome and their families, the history of “labels” is not a pleasant one ...

Killing costly babies is “reasonable” says noted bioethicist

Mark Leach, Down Syndrome Prenatal Testing, 24th April 2015
In the same week that thirty years ago a doctor advised the parents of Baby Doe to let him die because he had Down syndrome, a noted bioethicist said that some babies should instead be actively killed to save the rest of us money ...

• See this post from earlier this week for more responses to Peter Singer

Seeing the divine in children born disabled ignores their very real humanity
Lyz Lenz, The Guardian, 24th April 2015
People have interpreted anomalies in babies as messages from God for centuries, and modern scientists are attempting to link genetic differences to our chemical-laced lifestyles. These overlook one simple fact: the human life before them ...

4 Things Not to Do When Interacting With Someone Who Uses a Communication Device

Rachel Kassenbrock, The Mighty, 23rd April 2015

If you haven’t spent time with someone who uses a communication device, it can be tricky to know how to act or what to say ...

My long and painful journey to motherhood

Hilary Harper, The Drum, 24th April 2015

It didn't feel like it then, but even during the deaths of my babies I was metamorphosing into someone who could nurture a child ...