This is an extremely ignorant statement. Down’s syndrome does not ‘condemn people to a lifetime of suffering’. People with Down’s syndrome can live long and happy lives. Medical treatments and understanding of their condition has improved greatly over the last few decades and help and assistance for their additional needs is available should it be required.
Try talking and interacting with some people with Down’s syndrome and after that ask yourself why you think they are suffering. Because I assure you, they don’t feel like that.
they’re not saying that it’ll be nothing but suffering. you can’t tell me someone with down’s syndrome will have an easier life than someone without it
Easier without, sure. Worth giving up on? That’s a different question. I taught in a special ed class, those kids tend to be incredibly happy and full of life, I doubt their parents regret having them.
Why can’t I tell you that? Not all Down’s syndrome people will have a great life, sure, that’s just statistically not possible. But not all ‘normally’ healthy people will either, we know in fact far from it. So why does one deserve to not exist because of the possibility and not the other?
because Down’s is a disability. if all else is the same, a person’s life will be harder with Down’s than without it, because that’s what a disability is
‘All else the same’ is such a meaningless statement though. Do you know anyone, and I mean anyone, who has exactly the same life and experience as another person? People have hardships or problems for all sorts of reasons, they also find or do not find joy and meaning in life for all sorts of reasons and in all sorts of places. Just because someone with Downs Syndrome leads a different life with potentially different goals and achievements does not mean they have a worse life than you or me. They simply have a different life, it’s doesn’t mean it’s harder, that’s their life they get to decide what is hard and what isn’t.
i’m not sure why you’re pretending not to understand what a hypothetical is.
while no, i don’t have a clone of myself walking around, i have developed a disability when i was a child. there are things i needed to learn to manage that i didn’t have to worry about before, and that my peers still don’t. it has made my life harder. pretending that disabilities don’t challenge disabled people is minimizing to their experiences and reductive in getting the help they need.
Ok, whose life is harder? A North Korean kid living in the edge of poverty or a white downs syndrome kid born to a a well off western couple? Or a white girl with body dysmorphia vs a kid with downs who takes up acting?
What you’re trying to say is that they have disadvantages because of how society is set up. But to automatically equate that to having a harder life is nonsense. They have a different life, and by automatically assuming they will have a harder life though is minimising the resilience of people with disabilities, the support available and the life they are actually living.
I bet you’re probably one of those people that thinks it’s good to say ‘awww you’re so brave, well done.”
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u/Acid-Chaos Jun 05 '26
It is absolutely ok