Burden To Society

The first couple of years after Kayla was born I would lurk on pregnancy message boards, to include those sub-boards of prenatal diagnosis, possible prenatal diagnosis, and yes, even the terminating for medical reasons boards (TMR). The majority of posters on the TMR board who had either terminated, or were planning on terminating, had a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome.

One of the common themes on that board, that I read over and over, was that individuals with Down syndrome were a 'burden to society' and they didn't want to bring a child in to this world who was going to 'suffer' and be a 'burden to society.'

Yeah, I eventually stopped reading those boards.

I read an article over the weekend that reminded me of this common perception that society has about people with Down syndrome; and about the whole 'burden to society' thing. What does that mean anyway? Aren't we all 'dependent' on 'society' during our lives?

But back to the article. A 25 yr old male Acme employee was robbed of $50. He went inside to tell his manager and call the police. He picked out the perpetrator's mugshot. His testimony was key to putting this serial robber in the state pen for 7-12 yrs. The guy admitted to stealing around $3000 from 11 people and using the money for drugs.

The employee? The one who helped put this guy behind bars? He has Down syndrome.

Now, who is the 'burden to society' here?