mikhail

What do people think of this a deaf couple who want a deaf child through IVF.This doesent sit well with me i find it selfish and cruel.

This couple want a deaf child. Should we try to stop them? | Science | The Observer

__________________
The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

Korimyr the Rat

I think it's absolutely horrific-- deliberately causing a disability in their child in the name of "culture". I don't see any difference between this and waiting for their child to be born and then surgically deafening them.

Now, I am a major advocate of reproductive freedom and in parents having the right to use reproductive technologies to try to produce the best children they can-- or the kind of children that they want-- but this is where I have to draw the line.

What's next, deliberately creating children with Down's Syndrome because, as so many disabled-rights advocates argue, they bring needed "diversity" to our world?

__________________

WI Crippler

Hell there are already people that desire to handicap themselves. I want to say they are called "nullos" or something like that. As idiotic and backwards as that is, its their choice.
However, creating physically disadvantaged children is not good, neither for the child or our society at large.

__________________
"What Jesus fails to appreciate is that it's the meek who are the problem."- Reg

mpg

It's a sick world.

__________________
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." - Eric Hoffer

talloulou

I don't really understand their way of thinking, obviously, as I'm not deaf and wasn't aware there was a fabulous deaf culture I'm missing out on.

That said though I don't think you can legitimately argue that they are causing deafness or liken it to them doing something to purposefully cause a non-deaf child to go deaf. They simply want to look at their embryos and pick the embryo that has the deaf gene as the embryo that gets implanted. That's not "causing" deafness. It is odd and it does seem unnatural but invitro isn't natural and now that techniques are more advanced it seems likely that people are going to want to make selections in regards to which embryos they will use and which ones they won't. They don't see deafness as horrible the way most of us would and they prefer to use their deaf gene carrying embryos. They're not causing the embryo to have a deaf gene so much as stating a preference for a deaf gene carrying embryo.

For the proliferation of the species I think it's a bad idea. I can't imagine that filling the world with people carrying a deaf gene is beneficial. But again, they're not causing deafness so much as preferring to bring to term the embryo most likely to be deaf. It's a slight distinction but a distinction to be sure.

I think their desire to have a deaf child is somewhat selfish and probably is a result of them wanting a child that is more like them than not and I think deep down lots of parents hope for kids that are "like" them for bonding purposes. Meh, the kid, deaf or not, will probably still go through an, "I hate my parents," stage.

1069

The deaf have their own rather aloof culture, which uses a different language than society at large but does not consider itself inferior to those who can hear.
Deaf people desire deaf children because they can more effectively parent deaf children than hearing children.

__________________
Lightdemon: "Is 10 going to outer space or something?"
Jerry: "...yes, 10 is going to outerspace."

new coup for you

I'll be able to parent children who can't play sports better then I could normal children, because I hate sports. can they invitro-up some legless kids for me?

__________________
And why does your tone suggest that you do not care about children?

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike.

Korimyr the Rat

I don't really draw that distinction-- or, at least, I don't consider it relevant. When you deliberately choose a child's genetic traits, I would say that you are deliberately causing your child to be a certain way. It is the same moral basis as my support for eugenics-- parents have a moral obligation to their children to provide every advantage they can.

Yeah. Especially when they find out that they were engineered deaf. People with disabilities often put a lot of effort into telling themselves-- and each other-- that they're just like "normal" people, and that they shouldn't want to be normal.

But I'm willing to bet the majority of them would jump at the chance, if it were offered.

rathi

Having the kind of power with PGD screening requires that it be used responsibly. The semantics over picking an already deaf embryo is irrelevant. I'm not saying the government should step in, but the parents are making the wrong choice. If they wanted to have a kid normally and accept the possibility of deafness, thats fine. However, deliberately choosing deafness it not.

__________________
He'd be right at home on some ancient battlefield, swinging an axe into somebody's face.

Panache

I think deliberately engineering your child to be disadvantaged is a bit sick, but I also don't think its the government's business.