Liz Lev in Zenit on Down Syndrome

The brilliant Liz Lev has written a great piece in Zenit about modern schizophrenic attitudes towards people with Down Syndrome.  On the one hand, "we" want to eradicate them.  Liz writes:

The subject of Down syndrome has appeared many times in this column, much to do with the fact my son has Trisomy 21. The stories have rarely been cheerful, mostly because the prognosis for the future of people with Trisomy 21 is poor. With an 80% abortion rate for children detected with the condition in the womb, it seems that the modern world believes it can eradicate Down syndrome as if it were small pox or the bubonic plague.

My own experience in Italy is that doctors and institutions keep poor records of how people with Trisomy 21 develop. They seem uninterested in learning how to help future generations, and I fear that this is because they believe there won't be future generations.

ZENIT published a very worrisome interview last week with Jean-Marie Le Méné, president of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation. Mr. Le Méné participated in the March for Life in order to draw attention to the plight of the unborn with Trisomy 21 in France, which now has a 96% abortion rate for children with Down syndrome.

On the other hand, though, "we" increasingly accept and embrace the physical beauty and charisma of kids with Down Syndrome in our cultural icons -- as fashion models and T.V. stars.  Liz discusses a number of examples, writing:  "But over the last few months I have heard several stories that bring promising news, perhaps a sign that Down is not out yet." She talks about the adorable six-year old star of Target & Nordstrom's ads, Ryan Langston; the Glee star Lauren Potter; and movie projects involving actors with Down Syndrome and celebrities such as Martin Scorsese, Roberto Benigni, Vanessa Paradis and Eva Longoria.

In my forthcoming article in Duke's Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems:  Exposing the Cracks in the Foundations of Disability Law, I explore these sorts of "puzzling inconsistencies in contemporary society's attitudes towards the disabled," as diagnosed by Stanley Hauerwas:  revealing "the pretensions of the humanism that shapes the practices of modernity."