IVF for a deaf baby......

[lottiejenkins]

www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=531170&in_page_id=1770
As the mother of a deaf child i'm not sure i would go out of my way to have another deaf child,,,,,,,,, What do other people think of this??

That article is fascinating, but it is absolutely clear that her negative view of deafness has come from her parents, and it is so sad to see the same attitude being passed down to the grandchildren.

I would't actively choose a deaf child, but I don't see deafness as such a terrible thing neither. I can understand people not wanting cochlea implants. I'm hearing impaired and I resent it being treated as a disability. It is a simple fact of life for me. I lipread, and I prefer to hear things my way rather than have it adjusted to 'normal' hearing.

I've had many friends who are severely hearing impaired and sign, or don't have oral speech and never had problems communicating with them. I think it is a real shame that the boy's parents didn't teach him sign language. The localisation thing is an excuse, we don't not teach our children english jsut because we can't use it abroad!

My ds has been taught total communication, he uses BSL and is starting to make people understand him when he speaks.. He didnt learn to speak till he was 7 years old. If i had another child i wouldnt want them to be deaf but if they were it wouldnt be the end of the world. As for a cochlear implant i have decided that that is a decision for my son when he is older, the level of hearing he has now isnt much below what he would hear with an implant, his digital aids have revolutionised his life,, not long after he received them we were walking down a street and he heard a dog bark and stopped, he asked me where the noisy dog was?? That was a very special moment.

There was a thread on this yesterday

Whilst I wouldn't actively choose deafness I am uncomfortable with the idea of being forced to screen out deafness (or any other disability come to that). Because you can't just screen out deafness, using this method you screen out an entire life because of their disability and that doesn;t sit comfortably with me.

I need to read up on the Bill going though Parliament as the snippets I've heard sound rather concerning, but I don't know enough about it. I've heard that it is saying that embryos will need to be screened for disabilities (which will presumably depend on what can be tested for rather than severity) and I think that's the start of a rather large slippery slope. BUt as I said I don't know enough about it.