I came across this video earlier in the week, and immediately thought of a recent Washington Post column that explicitly defended the action of aborting a pregnancy after an unborn child is diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Many people recoiled at the piece, including more than a few parents of Down Syndrome children, whose lives are precious and valuable -- and disproportionately happy:
In 2011, Brian Skotko, a Harvard-trained physician and researcher, published a groundbreaking survey, “Self-Perceptions from People With Down Syndrome.” His work revealed that people with Down syndrome have a very high level of satisfaction in their lives and are generally very happy people. Similarly, family members of people with Down syndrome also rank high in levels of personal fulfillment. So not only are people with Down syndrome happy, but they also bring a great deal of happiness to their friends and family members. Indeed, the survey found that 88 percent of siblings of children with Down syndrome feel that they are better people for having had their brothers and sisters; and other studies have found that children with Down syndrome have strong adaptive skills and that their parents tend to divorce less than the parents of children without Down syndrome.
A 2011 study found that nearly 99% of people with Down syndrome over the age of 12 said they were happy with their lives. 99% said they loved their families. 97% said they liked their brothers and sisters. 86% felt they could make friends easily. https://t.co/zSXpNiZO2d
— Alexandra DeSanctis (@xan_desanctis) March 10, 2018
Here is that study. And with that, I'll leave you with this moving, inspirational music video that helps celebrate the intrinsic value of every human life, including ones deemed imperfect by society (sometimes in some profoundly creepy ways). Precious:
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