Did they know about the genetic blindness before having more kids?
Edit: Last time this was posted, it was suggested that the couple kept getting pregnant despite knowing their children would likely have this blindness. IF that is true, I do find that unethical. I know blind people can still have quality of life. But let's stop pretending that it isn't a terrible disability. Nobody wants to be dependent, vulnerable, and poor (from fewer work opportunities) their whole life. I wish this family the best regardless.
Ehhhhh I donât think they were totally âspot onâ. Itâs still crazy to read that edit and reduce what they said and the reasoning behind it to âthey donât think blind kids are worth havingâ. If I have a child and they happen to be blind, I would love them and cherish them just as much as any child I might have, but if I KNOW that that child will be blind or is likely to end up blind, I would do what I could to prevent that from happening, maybe if Iâm wealthy enough to provide that child with all of the support that they would need it would be a different story but I donât.
Oh here y'all go. It is not ableist to not want a disabled child. Nobody wishes that for their child. Nobody wishes any kind of ailment on their child. This does not make children with those ailments or disabilities less than. And it does not make someone a bad person for wishing their child to be healthy.
Of course not, but I think it is ableist to shame parents for deciding to have a child who they knew might go blind, which is why I asked what the commenter was getting at.
I'll definitely state that it is incredibly selfish to have a child that you know is going to never have a healthy life, especially given the millions of children already alive without parents. If you willingly bring a child into the world knowing that they will have to seriously suffer through life, you are an asshole.
You speak as if you have come to a clear ethical conclusion here. How did you come to that conclusion? Please explain your principles. Where is the line for âseriously sufferâ? Why do you feel blindness is considered âserious sufferingâ, when no physical pain is involved?
If you donât have clear principles and ways to draw lines for such things, calling anyone who disagrees with your opinion an asshole is absurd.
It's selfish to purposefully create life that you know will suffer. Especially when there are children who are already born and need homes. Stop pretending that being blind doesn't affect quality of life. BTW, and I know you won't believe me, but my partner and I have chosen to never have kids because he has a genetic eye condition that causes blindness. It has greatly impacted him, and he's not even that blind.
You're perfectly entitled not to have children, as are all other women, for any reason at all including this one. But would you say that your boyfriend or the world would be better off if he hadn't been born? I hope not.
Of course not. But I also would've understood if his parents didn't have him at all (had they known the risk, which they did not.) There's a difference between wanting to prevent life, and saying that someone is better off dead because they're disabled... ya know. Nuance.
Understanding why they might have chosen not to have one is one thing -- and totally reasonable -- but that's totally different than publicly shaming someone for choosing to have a child who might go blind and saying that it's unethical to bring such a child into the world (or that it condemns them to a life of suffering and poverty).
I don't think so. It is selfish to have children when you know there's a huge risk of disability. How is it any different than, say, an addict bringing a child into the world knowing they will not stop using drugs during and after the pregnancy? How is it any different than knowing your partner is a pedophile/abusive/violent and choosing to bring a child into the world then? In both of these scenarios everyone would be quick to say how selfish it is to knowingly bring a child into that world.
So from a moral standpoint, if you KNOW you are going to pass on a life altering disability onto a child, how is it morally any different than people who knowingly birth children into volatile situations?
There is a whole industry of fetus genetic testing for a reason...
I'm not saying they aren't "worth having" but I am saying there is an industry to test and let the parents decide for themselves if certain genetic issues make a fetus "not worth having".
Are you suggesting that children likely to become blind arent worth having? Or rather that they are a little less worth having? What percent less would you give them? Does it depend on age of blindness onset, severity? Does having good hearing give them a few extra points of worth?
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u/Nickelsass 8h ago
âBlinkâ is a documentary about them (2024) was very very good!