Master of Our Own Destinies?
For those of you interested in the History of the American Eugenics Movement, go see this interesting website: Image Archive of the American Eugenics Movement, further to my earlier post: A Better Breed of American
Captain of my own destiny, keeper of my dreams.
Hard to believe that such a movement would state that my son be sterilized, marginalized, and worse, would not deserve to exist. The movement is all to recent to forget, and perhaps lurks around the corner again.
Autism Diva wrote a post on mercury today and I wrote a comment on her blog quoting from the site mentioned above:"By mid-19c most scientists believed bad environments caused degenerate heredity. Benedict Morel's work extended the causes of degeneracy to some legitimate agents -- including poisoning by mercury. Richard Dugdale believed that good environments could transform degenerates into worthy citizens within three generations." The talk of mercury now, and the words from history, send shivers up my spine.
Must there be a "cause" for autism? Is it another attempt to "degenerate" the autistic?
All I can say today is, let us never forget.
Captain of my own destiny, keeper of my dreams.
Hard to believe that such a movement would state that my son be sterilized, marginalized, and worse, would not deserve to exist. The movement is all to recent to forget, and perhaps lurks around the corner again.
Autism Diva wrote a post on mercury today and I wrote a comment on her blog quoting from the site mentioned above:"By mid-19c most scientists believed bad environments caused degenerate heredity. Benedict Morel's work extended the causes of degeneracy to some legitimate agents -- including poisoning by mercury. Richard Dugdale believed that good environments could transform degenerates into worthy citizens within three generations." The talk of mercury now, and the words from history, send shivers up my spine.
Must there be a "cause" for autism? Is it another attempt to "degenerate" the autistic?
All I can say today is, let us never forget.
3 Comments:
"Must there be a "cause" for autism?"
For me, understanding autism, even to the point of understanding it's cause(s), is important. However equating cause with cure is not something I'm interested in. Though, alleviating and/or preventing the negative aspects of autism, like the nearly unendurable pain associated with "normal" experiences would be something I'd gladly do for my children.
If, as it very well may be, one must eliminate the good (such as the wonderfully unique perspective individuals with autism have on this world) with the bad...that would be going too far.
Love that smile in the Airplane seat!!!! Too cute!
Kristin
He is truly a joy as his smile suggests.
Thanks, Kristin!
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