By Leticia Velasquez, co-founder
Keep Infants With Down Syndrome

Given the choice, I would prefer my daughter to be called a "retard" and know that abortion of babies with Down syndrome had ceased.

Eddie Sloan and Christina Velasquez Photo credit: Gabriela Velasquez

Early last month President Barack Obama signed a law decreeing that federal statutes must no longer use the term "mental retardation." The phrase replacing it will be "intellectual disability."

Many Down syndrome advocates were jubilant, but I am more skeptical. Working in London in the 1980s I was shocked by the name on a building near my home: The Spastic Society. In the United States, we had long before ceased calling those with cerebral palsy "spastics" and I found the term antiquated and offensive. It seems that, every few decades, old terms for those with physical disabilities or cognitive delays are abandoned in favor of new ones, since existing terms have developed a negative connotation.

But drawing a new word from the thesaurus is not enough. We have to respect the right of the mentally disabled to exist. We need to stop aborting them. Changing vocabulary, while significant, can only get you so far.

As a writer who is also in the pro-life movement I understand the importance of words. Calling an unborn child a fetus, while medically accurate, can depersonalize the child, allowing members of the public to rationalize abortion in the same way that calling certain members of society "useless eaters," "vermin," and "life unworthy of life" eventually depersonalized entire classes of people, including the mentally retarded, and sent them to their deaths in the Nazi concentration camps.

Banner from Holy Family Parish in Wisconsin Photo credit: Gabriela Velasquez

My point is this: if an entire class of people, those with three sets of the 21st chromosome, are routinely targeted for destruction--at a scandalous rate of 90 percent--can merely changing the term we use to describe those 10 percent who escape the net increase respect for their human dignity and intrinsic value to society in a meaningful way?

Isn't a more fundamental change required before having a child with Down syndrome goes from being the greatest fear of pregnant women to being widely accepted by society?

When only 10 percent of people pre-natally diagnosed with this disorder make it to birth, not referring to that lucky minority as "mentally retarded" seems like a hollow victory--as if we are rescuing survivors of the death camp, offering them freedom and food, but failing to shut down the gas chambers for the rest of their race. Can any significant respect be ever given to those with Down syndrome when those who call themselves advocates ignore this ignominious irony?

I would prefer that my daughter be called a "retard," a pejorative term I abhor, and know that the abortion of babies with Down syndrome had ceased. It would mean society had dropped the window-dressing in a willingness to offer people with a unique number of chromosomes the dignity they deserve, which is the only way that true respect for these persecuted members of our society can be established. It is only when they live fully integrated lives in society and become an everyday sight that they will win the respect they deserve.

Isabella Velasquez, Christina Velasquez, and Allegra Le Photo credit: Gabriela Velasquez

Whenever I travel in certain circles with my 8-year-old daughter Christina, who has Down syndrome, she creates a stir.

Heads turn to confirm what people think they saw, and then the light of recognition dawns; "yes, that was a child with Down syndrome." The process doesn't bother me unless the discovery is accompanied by a look of disgust.

I never see that reaction from children; they are merely curious. Once, a couple of preschool brothers ran to their mom after meeting Christina, exclaiming in animated stage whispers, "Mom, we met a little girl who is Chinese; she looks Chinese and doesn't speak English!"

She tried to shush them, with a worried glance at me, and I calmly assured her that I wasn't offended, since the boys were just trying to make sense of her uniqueness. This may be the first time the boys had ever encountered a child with Down syndrome; they are pretty rare in the U.S., after all.

Recently, an American psychiatrist traveled to Ireland, and was puzzled by the fact that he saw many more children with Down syndrome in the population than he was accustomed to seeing at home. He noted that they were integrated into everyday activities, and marveled at how they were casually accepted in everyday life. Upon investigation into this rare phenomenon, he came upon a surprising fact: abortion is illegal in Ireland, so the 90 percent abortion rate that has virtually extinguished people with Down elsewhere is not operating. The Irish don't do a double take for children like Christina. In fact, they are debuting a cartoon on Irish TV whose main character, "Punkie," is a little girl with Down syndrome. It will be included among the ordinary children's programs.

Imagine if, overnight, we stopped aborting babies with Down syndrome. Soon, preschools would have the typical number of children with the characteristic almond eyes my daughter has, and children wouldn't have to tug at their embarrassed parents' sleeves when they see her. Programs customized to their learning style would flourish, as their growing numbers justified their creation.

When adults with Down syndrome took their place in the world, their accomplishments wouldn't surprise us and make the news, as did the young man with Down syndrome who scored a 51-yard touchdown for his high school football team and was featured on Fox News, or the young couple, Monica and David, a couple with Down syndrome whose marriage story was made into an award-winning documentary. Such events would become too commonplace to amaze us.

Research funding would increase and eventually the health challenges faced by people with Trisomy 21 would be overcome by science. Cures for other, more common diseases such as Alzheimer's or cancer may well be discovered within this promising research. Our society would find itself a more welcoming place for those who are genetically diverse, and then we could congratulate ourselves--not for using nicer words, but for overcoming our bigotries, as we did two decades ago, with the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

These are precisely the goals that my friends in the advocacy movement are encouraging through use of the media, and Down syndrome organizations; they already know that children with Down syndrome are not--and shouldn't be viewed as--the worst thing that can happen to a family.

As part of the movement to provide a welcoming culture for those like my Christina, I say to doctors, politicians, and society in general: You cannot insist that our children be addressed in respectful terms and expect fundamental changes in society while shrugging off a 90 percent abortion rate of these same children. The rejection of our children on the basis of their differences cannot be hidden behind shallow window-dressing. Advocate on behalf of the very lives and inherent dignity of Down syndrome children while they are in utero; encourage their right to be born and watch the pejoratives fade away--on their own and without much legislation needed--as the amazing personalities and unique sensibilities of our children enrich society.

Leticia Velasquez is a co-founder of Keep Infants With Down Syndrome [http://keepinfantswithdownsyndrome.blogspot.com ]. This piece is reprinted with her permission.