It’s unjust to say that people with Down syndrome exist to teach us lessons about being better people. It’s an extremely common trope we would all do well to avoid.
People with Down syndrome, exist for God’s mysterious purposes: because we give him glory and because he loves us.
*I don’t know what that errant comma is doing there. It’s kind of embarrassing.
I heard this kind of talk from a very well-meaning pro-life person today, and I appreciate the effort.
But I have a theory (but no data) that this kind of talk actually makes it more likely people with Down syndrome will be aborted, by making them a different kind of creature.
I think what we mean is that people with obvious needs can make visible by their very being the demands of justice and the demands of love.
Which is true. But we need to be careful about instrumentalizing people.
It’s especially problematic when things like “they’re so sweet” are a cover that keep us from seeing that people who process slowly and speak slowly are often agreeable to mask their failure to understand or because they expect not to be listened to.
I suppose the clearest way to state my objection is that language like this puts a set of expectations on a class of people to be a certain way, because that’s where we’ve said their worth is.
But some people aren’t that way, or dont want to be, or whatever.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
On the feast of St. Joseph, I'll mention the period in which he was most manifestly evident in my life:
We were 23 and just-turned-24 when we got married, we were both in grad school, we had no money and no plan. We lived in a rat infested apartment in DC.
But we really wanted to be parents. So we did the things people do when they want to be parents, but no babies came.
We tried for a couple of years without getting pregnant before we went to see doctors, but eventually we saw doctors, had surgeries, etc. No babies came.
Those of you who have experienced infertility know it can be a very difficult cross.
Other things my dad told us:
- that 'Green Chromosomes' are stronger than other genes, so if you are a bit Irish, the green chromosomes will overpower everything until you're all Irish.
- that on St. Patrick's Day, I had to write Seamus on my school papers or I would get a zero.
So the Prince of Wales shows up in the U.S. and we say "Hey, this freakin coffin couldn't hold George Washington. You remember that guy, right? Anyway, here's some wood."
I wonder if they focus grouped the “can and cannot do” language. I suspect it won’t play well with people who are skeptical, who seem to be an important audience for the speech.
Nor will the bit about the 4th of July.
On the whole I think this speech will be celebrated by people who support Biden and be criticized as scolding by those who think the federal government has been overbearing.
A nice enough speech, but I don’t see it moving any needles for anybody.