As a parent, when I look at him I get lost in the beauty of his eyes. His smile is the door that invites people to explore his heart. To me, this is pure perfection. So, the only thought of someone else judging or diminishing his human value due to his condition is just insane.
For the last decade or so, social equality movements have taken over social media. Social media has become the most important tool to express our right to speak up, celebrate our individuality, and promote our uniqueness.
However, there is a reality that hasn’t changed much. Social bullying is still a common and ignorant practice. Sad to say, but it not only comes out of the mouth of bullies who use negative words or phrases to attack people’s individuality, but it comes as well from those who diminish their humanity by labeling them as out-of-the-world creatures. Saying the “r” word is as bad as idealizing them, or congratulating their parents for being chosen or special. Why should I be considered “special” for loving my own children?
Lately, the bullying has taken an extra step, otherwise, how else this ad could be explained. “Tranquility, the prenatal non-invasive test, features a child with Down syndrome on a giant board in Spain.”
Did they think there is a person behind that face? Or they just used a free-royalty picture to represent the right to choose in the face of a person with Down syndrome?
Things change over the years. After 11 years of being the mother of two children with Down syndrome, I’ve matured and evolved in many ways. Still, there’s a question that remains the same. How the heck people dare to judge something unknown to them?
How the heck a successful atheist dare to label as immoral the choice of giving birth to a child with disabilities? If you don’t have a child with a disability, you don’t know what’s like!
How the heck a company uses a child’s face to publicize the choice of life?
How the heck people dare to use their freedom to pigeonhole others? Your freedom ends where my right to be started!
What’s the answer to prejudice?
Definitely, it’s not to exclude the sensitive population in order for them to be protected. The real answer is to use our voice in order to change what needs to be changed. Social media is not a choice anymore, it’s instead a powerful tool that can serve as a bridge to our children’s success, and we have to protect their right to be involved in a safe and respectful way.
Things like these must stop happening for good.
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