I also somehow feel like “a hypocrite” for being against genetic testing and selective abortion since that’s what I did, in a way. I used to be pro-choice but I have serious reservations about it now. I am not adamantly opposed to all abortions, but check with me in a year and I probably will be.

How much harder it will be for people to NOT make the abortion choice, when they are purposely being tested and pressured for “medical” reasons to not have the child? I don’t know. Although I was easy to pressure I also was not “one of the crowd” when it came to being told what to do by society in general, and I wonder if many prospective parents, having been raised to think that this sort of thing is “natural and good,” will just go along with it. Even those who are not desperate and without resources.

Having just been diagnosed this year with Asperger’s, I regret even more not having the baby. Maybe he or she was autistic. That was one of the first things I thought of after my diagnosis. It’s not like I fixate on this all the time but it is always with me.

is the Wolbring report I was referring to – in case anyone is still following this

Making sure that it is legal obligation for any genetic counselling to include positive autism views seems to me the most feasible way to go (politics the art of the possible…) eg having Don’t Mourn for Me read out, and being given links to things like the autism hub and the Posautive Youtube group as well as to national/local autistic societies and their usually less autism friendly positions. This may be achievable through disability rights channels. There is an extremely interesting and penetrating discussion about all these issues including the economic and administrative ones at

That’s pretty much what I said in my blog entry “Preventing Disabilities or Preventing Disabled People” which is at http://abnormaldiversity.blogspot.com/2006/06/preventing-disabilities-or-preventing.html
By the way, I’m a pro-life feminist socialist. All those logically follow from each other for me, and it always kind of surprises me that other people hold what seem to me like contradictory viewpoints, such as being pro-life conservatives. Granted, it’s not contradictory if you understand their reasoning, but my habitual way of viewing the world means those are contradictory.
How is the abortion issue separate from anti-eugenics? Plenty of ways. I’m pro-choice about dietary treatment for PKU, rather than considering it mandatory. I oppose preimplantation genetic diagnosis even though I don’t consider zygotes alive (in the sense that I’m alive. They are alive the way e-coli or the islets in my pancreas are alive). I oppose sterilizing people because you don’t want more of their kind. I oppose “mercy killings” (which aren’t merciful from my perspective) and saying suicide is OK if you’re disabled but not if you’re just depressed (I don’t think anyone should kill themselves).
And some pro-choice anti-eugenecists might be saying they don’t want people to be viewed as irresponsible for choosing not to abort a disabled child, the same way I don’t want people viewed as irresponsible if they decide to feed a phenylalanine-rich diet to their PKU child.
Ettina

I can scan text without seeing the author and recognize your writing. I found that wonderful. It is scary too because I can almost see the other jerks writing just by a quick scan but no “face” just attitude profile.

I recognize some of myself even in other autistic writing and either I copied others or others copied me….but either way, I notice “autistic” writing style now almost it seems as good as people. I didn’t even know you commented but before seeing the author, I said to myself “oh, ballastexistenz commented”. Then I realized what I did and awed at myself a bit. I sometimes am just as shocked as others as whatever little things I might do too hehe.

Oh yes he also has a post attacking socialism – so that’s a good reason for *me* to ignore him too!

:-)