My Life Enriched Beyond Measure
Source: Letters to the Editor, The Age, Friday 2 October, 1992
I was saddened to read that 70 per cent of people interviewed in a poll would approve of terminating a pregnancy if the child would be born physically handicapped (The Age , 28/9). As a profoundly deaf student studying second-year arts/law at Melbourne University, having been an overseas exchange student, and having been actively involved in Christian ministry over the years, it was of concern to me that so many people would have considered that my life was worthless when I lay unborn in my mother’s womb.
Such an attitude is a sad reflection on a society that appears to be increasingly intolerant of anything less than perfect or that is an inconvenience in our fast-paced lives. The apparently noble motive of saving a child from unnecessary pain and suffering is often only a facade for the unwillingness of some people to have their own lives "burdened".
Would people who hold this view consider disabled persons such as Beethoven, Steven Hawking, Helen Keller and Stevie Wonder to have been nothing but a burden to our society? I have met many people who have battled, despite their handicap, to make a valuable contribution to this world, be it great or small, and as a result my life has been enriched beyond measure.
I quote from Andrew Symons’ s winning medical ethics essay: "The extent to which we have lost this idea of the intrinsic value of each individual on earth is the extent to which our society has lost its humanity."
Elena Down, North Balwyn