Hello! Late in the game on this one, but wanted to add my little bit.
I have been pregnant 4 times, 3 pregnancies have resulted in big bouncing healthy babies.
Each pregnancy was similar in that I was patronised when it came to the Down's screening. I declined, the midwife made throw away comments about "how would I cope", about the "burden" of a disabled child. I ended up doing them because they were non-invasive and posed no risk to my baby. My personal "choice" is that I would decline invasive testing due to the risk of miscarriage (personal choice, and due to the fact that I had suffered a miscarriage and it was awful).
I have no idea why people are so afraid of Down's syndrome, I grew up in a community where I was exposed to the normality of life with a learning difficulty so I guess that helped. My personal choice was to see any pregnancy I was blessed to have through to the end, and love the child I made. I realise now that my attitude is in the minority and that comment is not intended to offend anyone who has made different choices, each to their own.
Sally's documentary really struck a chord with me. I was NEVER given unbiased information during my pregnancies. I was in fact on the receiving end of some pretty appalling treatment.
My second pregnancy ended up flagging a "high risk" result. I got a phone call on a Tuesday, just as I was giving my eldest daughter her tea. It went something like this:
"I am so sorry to have to tell you, your results show you are at high risk of Down's syndrome, we have booked you in for an amnio on Thursday at 9am"
My response was "no thank you"
To which I was then treated appallingly, with repeated phone calls, patronising comments, cajoling, almost bullying trying to get me to attend the amnio appointment. I later found out that termination slots are booked prior to delivering the results of an amnio if they do indeed show the baby has Down's syndrome.
The thing is, I already "knew" (mothers intuition) that my baby had Down's syndrome and I was fine with it.
The "I'm so sorry" and the "high risk" are both incredibly negatively charged statements. Society, the NHS etc all want everyone to believe that Down's syndrome is awful... it's really not.
After my second daughter was born I asked the midwife if she thought she had Down's syndrome (it was pretty obvious!) and she said "yes, I will call a paediatrician"
Long story short, I was put in a room on the bereavement floor, even though I requested to be put on the ward. they literally made it feel like I had had the worst news EVER, even though she was 8lbs 5oz and completely healthy, breastfeeding like a dream and I was ready to go home!
She's 6 now, and I am on my own parenting my 3 daughters 80% of the time as I have no family to help and my husband works away a lot. I am not in a position of privilege, my daughter has a moderate learning difficulty... She is just a little girl who learns a little differently and slower than the average neurotypical child.
I find it weird how people are blasting Sally for allowing Olly to be filmed. Olly is the norm, not the exception. Down's syndrome is not an illness and it's not a spectrum disorder... I find it remarkable that people still think that - including some medics!! Staggering.
There is as much variety in ability amongst children who have Down's syndrome as there is the neurotypical population. Kids with Down's syndrome get other illnesses too... The problem is that Down's syndrome is the first thing people see - its written all over their beautiful faces.
I know children who have all manner of other diagnosis - not because they have Down's syndrome, but because they are kids.
Sally's documentary wasn't about not allowing the screening, its about asking the medics to get up to speed and offer more balanced information and to put a stop to the conveyor belt that assumes everyone wants to terminate. Not everyone does and that is also a "choice". It definitely feels like our choice, those that want to continue the pregnancies, is actually often the harder one to fight!