Washington Post op-ed columnist Michael Gerson says Trig Palin’s appearance on the national stage comes even as civil rights protections for people with Down syndrome have “rapidly eroded over the last few decades.”

Gerson says the widespread availability and use of prenatal testing has created situation in which “many parents report that genetic counselors and physicians emphasize the difficulties of raising a child with a disability and urge abortion.”

This is properly called eugenic abortion — the ending of “imperfect” lives to remove the social, economic and emotional costs of their existence. And this practice cannot be separated from the broader social treatment of people who have disabilities. By eliminating less perfect humans, deformity and disability become more pronounced and less acceptable. Those who escape the net of screening are often viewed as mistakes or burdens. A tragic choice becomes a presumption — “Didn’t you get an amnio?” — and then a prejudice. And this feeds a social Darwinism in which the stronger are regarded as better, the dependent are viewed as less valuable, and the weak must occasionally be culled.

… the pro-choice radicalism held by [Sen. Edward M.] Kennedy and many others — the absolute elevation of individual autonomy over the rights of the weak — has enabled the new eugenics. It has also created a moral conflict at the heart of the Democratic Party. If traditional Democratic ideology means anything, it is the assertion that America is a single moral community that includes everyone. How can this vision possibly be reconciled with the elimination of children with Down syndrome from American society? Are pro-choice Democrats really comfortable with this choice?

Gerson also recalls the life of French president Charles de Gaulle, who held great affection for his daughter Anne, born in 1928 with Down syndrome.

See my earlier post about Anne de Gaulle here.

See also: It’s a disability, not a death sentence — letter to the editor by Anne Fordemwalt

I am pro-choice, but when 90 percent of pregnancies involving Down syndrome are aborted, this seems more like selective breeding … Maybe instead of encouraging parents to abort simply because a fetus has Down syndrome, doctors should make it a practice to educate parents and inform them that it isn’t a death sentence.

From Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Associated Press, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Broadcasting, USA Today and elsewhere:

Beijing opened the international Paralympic Games this weekend with an extravagant performance by a cast of thousands, as President Hu Jintao proclaimed that the government is dedicated to improving the lives of its 83 million citizens with disabilities.

“We stand for equality, oppose discrimination, care for the vulnerable and respect human rights,” Hu said, according to state media.

In preparation for the event, the government acquired 2,000 “kneeling buses,” installed a wheelchair ramp at the Great Wall, and spent $80 million to improve access in Beijing. Human rights groups say discrimination is still widespread in a country that has traditionally believed disabilities are caused by a person’s misdeeds in a previous lifetime, but were guardedly optimistic that the games could trigger a change in Chinese prejudices.

Historically, the Chinese government has not recognized the rights of people with disabilities. It has long advocated sterilizing mentally handicapped people. In 1994, China ratified a law calling for the abortion of fetuses carrying hereditary diseases and restrictions on marriages among people with mental problems or contagious diseases.

The opening ceremony of the Paralympics can be seen on the web here.

(Photo from Los Angeles Times)

From Youtube, Newsday, the New York Times and elsewhere:

Framing his remarks within his own personal saga as a person with near-blindness, New York Governor David Paterson told the Democratic National Convention that Barack Obama could bring new economic opportunities to all Americans, including those with disabilities.

In a speech that was described as militant and partisan, Paterson told of graduating from Columbia University and Hofstra University School of Law, and then being turned down for a job because of his disability. He said his recovery from that defeat embodied the promise of America.

The governor hammered hard at the need for government intervention to provide supports for people with disabilities. Only 37 percent of people with disabilities are working, Paterson said, and only 29 percent of blind people; the unemployment rate of deaf people is nearly 90 percent. He said Obama would work with Congress to overturn Supreme Court decisions that wrongly narrowed the Americans with Disabilities Act

From the New York Times report:

… like many supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, [Paterson] was shunted to a marginal time slot — 5:50 p.m. Eastern time — and given just four minutes to fill.

The advance text of Paterson’s speech is here.

From the Muskegon [Michigan] Chronicle:

A special vote drive sponsored by disability rights groups in Muskegon, Michigan, has helped adults with developmental disabilities register to vote.

Among the 23 new voters registered last week was Robert “Randy” Lamos, who will go to the polls on election day for the first time at the age of 61. “Not gonna miss this,” he said. “This is history.”

Even though the U.S. Constitution guarantees every U.S. citizen 18 and older the right to vote, many people like Lamos, who is developmentally disabled and cannot read, have fallen through the cracks during national, state and local elections, said Margaret O’Toole, executive director of Arc/Muskegon.

Worse, she said, they’ve been ignored by the population at large. People with developmental disabilities make up 2 percent of the U.S. population — a sizable voting bloc, she said.

“If you think about it, people with developmental disabilities probably have the most at stake in voting booths,” O’Toole said. “Look at their issues: access to services, employment, transportation, maintaining their rights.”

The new voters will cast their ballots with the help of an AutoMARK terminal, a specially designed and adapted voting machine for people with a variety of disabilities — as dictated by the mandates of the Help America Vote Act.

The voter registration drive was organized by Arc/Muskegon and the Regional Interagency Consumer Committee.

Associated Press in the Houston Chronicle:

The federal Department of Justice has notified the state of Texas that it is investigating the state’s institutions to determine whether residents’ civil rights are being violated.

Texas houses some 5,000 people with intellectual and other disabilities in 13 large institutions, called state schools or centers. Public records of the institutions have shown more than 450 incidents of verified abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2007.

An analysis of state records by the Associated Press this year found that more than 800 employees of the institutions had been suspended or fired for abusing patients since 2004.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services said today that the state will cooperate with the investigation.

From NBC Augusta News in Augusta, Georgia:

Corey Johnson, a commissioner in Georgia’s Richmond County, is questioning whether two people with intellectual disabilities should be allowed to live on their own. He said neighborhoods should be warned before people with intellectual disabilities move in.

“I find it disturbing if you have two people that are somewhat, you know, mentally retarded who are living together. It’s like having two blind people living in a house together. How one is going to show the other one how to maneuver, how to get around?” he said. Johnson called for regulations and said he wanted a board committee to study the matter.

Another county commissioner disagreed, saying Johnson’s comments were discriminatory. “We need to make accommodations for people who are probably  the most discriminated against group in America, and that’s people with disabilities,” said Commissioner Joe Bowles.

The heated debate followed a complaint from the head of a neighborhood association about two renters. Homeowner Isaac Miller told reporters the renters do not cause problems. “They are just a little slow, that’s all,” he said. “I really don’t understand what the problem is.”

“People with disabilities have the right just like you and I do to live where they choose and to be supported as they need to be,” said Estelle Muherin Duncan of Serenity Behavioral Health Systems, a group that provides services to people with disabilities.

(NBC Augusta photo. Video available)

Writing in the [UK] Guardian, Peter V. Berns says the portrayal of a person with an intellectual disability in the film “Tropic Thunder” is offensive and shouldn’t be tolerated.

He says the use of the word “retard” and other insulting language in the film could spark abuse, bullying and violence against people with intellectual disabilities. An excerpt:

The oppressive power of these words has deep resonance for individuals with intellectual disabilities and for the disability rights movement. In the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, the use of the R-word in this film represents a serious setback. The portrayal of this character sends a clear message to the audience that the lives of people with intellectual disabilities are worth less and that it is acceptable to degrade and dehumanise them.

The history of people with intellectual disabilities in the U.S. evokes a dark time when these individuals suffered institutionalization, forced sterilization, segregation and other abuses. While the U.S. has made monumental strides toward including people with disabilities in the community, further progress will only be made if we speak out against bigotry, mistreatment and disrespect wherever we see it.

… We invite our colleagues in the disability rights movement, worldwide, to stand together and work to educate, inform and inspire people of conscience. Critics may try to dismiss our criticism as just some kind of politically correct talk, but that rejoinder is far too simplistic in the face of the suffering people with intellectual disabilities have experienced in their lives and throughout history. Individuals with disabilities should enjoy human rights on an equal basis with others without stigmatization, discrimination or prejudice. It is they who define themselves.

Peter V. Berns is the executive director of The Arc of the United States, the world’s largest community-based organization of and for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.