On being the parent of a Down Syndrome child

... and the sick reaction of the "cultural elite" in this country.

One of the defining stories of my life is the one that occurred shortly after Ralph's birth. My father was a medical student at the time and was in some far off rural town doing a clinical rotation. My mother was alone when the doctor (I think this was the obstetrician, but maybe it was the pediatrician) came into her room to explain to her that Ralph had Down Syndrome, and how, as a doctor's wife, this would be an unbearable burden. He was ready to help her find an "appropriate" institution in which to place this deformed child.

With anger and disgust, she fired the doctor on the spot. She, her mother, and her grandmother were determined to do whatever it took to make sure that Ralph hit his developmental milestones on time. And so he did. What he has meant to me, to the rest of the family, and to innumerable other people puts the lie to the notion that his life is in any way "worth" less than anyone else's. I wish I was half as successful in having a positive impact on others.

These morons who think that they can place a value on a human life, up to and including imposition of a prenatal death sentence, disgust me with their fake intellectualism. They are frauds and phonies who should be called out for what they are: narcissistic jerks.

PS: I like to say of my mom that she was "pro-life" before "pro-life" was cool. (Except it hasn't ever really been cool, but you get the idea)