Oink

I went to a lunch talk yesterday. Many of you will instantly recognize the key word in this phrase. Yes, I was hungry and by the time 12:00 rolled around, I was ready to stuff my face. In my defense I'll add that I signed up a for this a few weeks ago.

The room was crowded but I diligently made my way through the chairs to the food at the other end. There was a LARGE and relatively untouched plate of wraps. Half-wraps, really, to be fair to myself - not full sandwiches at all.

Putting two on my plate seemed par for the course. Most people did that. However, as I mentioned, I was hungry. I had already been snacking most of the morning, yet my hunger was not appeased. My body felt like it was eating itself up. I needed food!!!

I eyed the dessert tray. Tempting - but I am back trying to do no-sugar after a Christmas-related sugar zone (the gift of a gorgeous box of chocolates set me on the wrong road for about a month). So, no dessert allowed. Does that mean that it would look okay if, instead of a cookie or two I took an extra sandwich?

I looked around. I thought the answer was "no." And I took a third sandwich.

And I ate the whole thing.

The talk, incidentally, was great. Sponsored by the Disability Health Research Network, the speaker explored the relationship between prenatal testing (and the increasing accuracy and lower risk of some tests) and our views on society and disabled people as members of society. Apparently, in the US they estimate that 90% of women carrying babies with Down's syndrome have an abortion. That number is astounding to me. I reflected a lot on how to balance two perspectives I hold dear: that all people are important members of society who can make valuable contributions; and the responsibility of parents to do what they can to have healthy children. For me this is clearest in relation to other disabilities for which parental lifestyle choices clearly play a significant role, such as spina bifida (folic acid) and fetal alcohol syndrome (about which many educated people I've met seem to be in denial). Surely promoting the best possible pre-natal and pre-conception health for parents is vital! Yet this does not mean that someone born with a disability is not to be treasured like anyone else.

I saw this conflict in views in a recent Facebook thread. One individual posted a comment that people with autism and ADHD do not want to be cured, they want to be accepted. One reply suggested alternative health therapies that have been linked to "improving" the symptoms of autism, ADHD and other disabilities. This second comment might imply that health is defined as normalcy which is defined as eliminating differences such as autism which some would view as simply part of the human spectrum. That is problematic. Yet I am also troubled by the relativism potentially implied by the first comment: that any difference is to be taken as good and not ameliorated.

A conundrum I expect to ponder for a long time.