Our Brave New World....

Well I guess I'll kickstart this off by making my first official post about a subject that is very dear to me.  My older brother Bryan was born with Down Syndrome.  Trisomy 21 is something that he has but it is definately not WHO he is.  Growing up my brother was my room mate and along with my oldest brother Jason, my earliest playmate.  While Jason was always the ring leader and brains behind all of our games, he was a stickler for the rules and liked to keep it clean, not so much with my brother Bryan.  He was the one I could cause mischief with.  Making mud pies in the back yard or making it snow in the living room using a box of pancake mix, we had our fair share of trouble making.  I remember all the stares and the muttered comments when we were out.  I remember why we stopped attending church when they refused to teach him.  I remember the altercations with other kids who just didn't understand.  I remember at times feeling embarassed by him when I had friends over and the horrible guilt I felt for feeling that way.
I helped coach his Challenger Baseball league and participated in the theater group he was a part of ever since I was in kindergarten.  He is one of the most important people in the world to me and I can not imagine my life without his influence.....

Which brings me to a topic which made me want to start this blog in the first place.  Last week I was going through some other blogs about Down Syndrome and the Word to end the Word campaign when I came across a very upsetting statistic.  I read that of the expectant mothers that discovered they were having a Down Syndrome baby, 90% decided to have it aborted.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  30 years ago many believed that Down Syndrome children could not have a fulfilling life.  Most were put into group homes or institutions thinking that they would never learn to read, write, or function in day to day life.  One of the first words the doctor said to my mother after Bryan was born was that "You don't need to keep it".  But today those myths are completely dispelled.  Down Syndrome children attend the same schools as mainstreamed students, they read, they write, they act, they play sports, they sing, they dance, they laugh, they love.  I read that the reason Mother's have aborted their DS babies is because they think they can not have as good  a quality of life than other children.  From my experience with my brother and all the wonderful people I've volunteered with these past 20 years I can attest that it is just not true.  Not only does Bryan have an awesome life that he takes such absolute joy in, but he has without a doubt made my own life so much brighter. 

I equate this disturbing trend to the outdated Eugenics movement and shudder to think that if given the choice the world would rather not have people like my brother in it.  It makes me very sad for this world and I just wish there was a way I could show people how wrong they are...