Aspies For Freedom

Agree with this well thought out post wholeheartedly Callista.  Well said.  It was a difficult decision for the parents to make but given the choice of maybe ten more years of caring for her at home or having her institutionalised, I am sure that care by parents at home is far the better option for the child and the parents.

I'm not sure where I stand on this matter. I'd probably never do this to my own child, no mather how disable he might be. But if it really will benefit Ashley in the future, then it's fine with me.

No, I don't actually see much of benefit either, but you never know.

She won't have to deal with the troubles of being an adult, though.

I agree. There was no need to get this surgery done on this young girl. It isn't for her benefit - just to ease her parent's minds (although the wish for her to be easier to care for if something happens to them would be motivated by the best of intentions). I am surprised any doctor would have consented to this invasive treatment - the parents must have had a lot of money.

" It is because the American health care system sucks."

I totally agree. The parents know (we ALL know) that if the girl was given over to some "care facility" she would get miserable, rotten care and the parents don't want that.

But the alternative is the parents caring for her. The fact is, the girl can't even sit up or turn over. The parents will be changing her diapers, bathing her, turning her for the rest of their lives.

I don't think the girl's quality of life is diminished by remaining small or not going through puberty. Her smaller size will reduce the horrible bed-sores and allow her parents to care for her even when they are old and frail.

Couldn't she be put on a water bed? Then there wouldn't be so much chance of getting bed sores. She could still end up really fat when she is older and be hard to lift.

This only goes to show how sad the decision was to do the surgery on this other girl.

so the day they find a way to get her better.
if that day would come, i mean think about science today and 30 - 40 years ago.

wtf will they think that day?

let life live.
it it fades out it does.
YOU will never know or understand what that life went though.
think about every person who thinks you are better off dead just cos you are autistic.

so being in a "baby" state = no good life?
that kind of narrow mindedness is the core reason that our children wont hardly see any humans with downs syndrome.

ppl with downs are so extreme that they teach us about things in another way.
atleast me.
in a profound way, just like autsitic children.
this is life, we dont know why we are here, how we came here, or where we are going.
stop trying to think you know everything.
humans dont know *** about life. (btw that was a opinion, my personal one.)

If they find a way to cure her... she'll be short.

Big deal. Plenty of people are PROUD of being "little people".

they dont expect much from a downs person.i spent a summer at in a program with her and i'm quiting a teacher on this she spent the summer coloring in a coloring book , i commented on this
' you could teach some things to her.'
''she only has the intelanace of a 4 year old.'-teacher untill then i had thought very highly of.

the 'child' in question is a teenager maybe 16/17 now  i think.this is why i didnt use the word child.

I don't think that is the main issue, though. Say if a "cure" were found while she was still of reproducing age, what if she were really angry that the operations rendered her unable to have children?

Methinks that if they were able to cure her condition, medical science would also be capable of successful uterus transplants or such....