I’ve seen this topic talked about on other blogs but I just read an editorial about it. The story is that a lesbian couple wants to have a baby. Both of the parents are deaf so they wanted their child to be deaf as well so they selected donor sperm from a deaf man. It ended up that their “selective” breeding ended up producing exactly what they wants: a deaf baby boy. In the editorial the reason they wanted this is to make life in their family easier and less stressful. They don’t see being deaf as a disability, but more as a culture.
I have no problem with deaf people. I don’t personally know any but they are people to and shouldn’t be looked down upon or considered incapable because they are hearing-impared but I think that this is disgusting. Why would someone want to force a disability onto a child. I realize that the parents don’t consider it a disability but this child may not think the same way as the parents. I think this kind of behaviour is selfish on part of the parents. How do they know what is best for the child? This is almost as dumb as paraplegic parents hoping for a paraplegic offspring just so they homeless will be less “stressful”. This is the second time these parents have “selectively” breed a child. They have a 5 year old daughter who is also deaf.
One final thought: I wonder if the parents have been deaf from birth, since I would imagine if you asked people, who had lost their hearing after birth, whether they would prefer to have their hearing back almost 100% of them would say yes.
What is your opinion on this?
3 Comments
What would those deaf parents do if suddenly their parents came up to them and admitted that they choose to have deaf kids just like they were doing? That they were selectively bred. Might make them think.
Personally I think all this genetic manipulation should not be done. What gives humans the right to think they can play God and do things better?
Let nature take its course. We have no right to interfer.
Richard Crenna summed it up in a movie he was in…”Don’t F**k with Mother Nature”
Yes, I agree that we should let nature take its course. I don’t think it’s right for genetic manipulation to take place and deliberately conceive a child who’ll end up with a disability. It’s very selfish on the couple’s part not to let their children lead a normal life. I know to the couple it’s normal to be deaf, but they robbed the children’s right to enjoy life to the fullest.
Can it really be said that the child was robbed of hearing? If they had of used a different, non deaf donor, it would not really have been the same child. But this is really just an intellectual argument.
I can see that the arguments on both sides have some merit, but I still lean towards being bothered by this, on an emotional level.