Comments on: Hysterectomy on disabled girls? Disabled but above all women! http://blog.ina-mar.com/archives/97 Thoughts and discussions about artworks, designs and their background... Environmental and human rights issues. Book reviews, artwork analysis etc. Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:14:31 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Ina Mar http://blog.ina-mar.com/archives/97/comment-page-1#comment-25931 Ina Mar Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:36:44 +0000 http://blog.ina-mar.com/?p=97#comment-25931 Dear Zellie, thank you so much for your contribution. You are and should feel connected to the struggle of women with physical disabilities. A child needs above all love, and you, or a physically disabled mother, can offer lots of it. You can also offer other things, that a non-disabled person will not be able to offer. As you will not be able to offer some things, that a non-disabled parent will be able to offer. The idea of eugenics is so wrong! We can't compare the vitamins of an orange juice with those of a glass of milk - which one is more/less useful? There's no comparison and there's no means of selection! We should just stop comparing unequal things and start interacting them and mutually supporting them, so we can get the best out of both. In my blog post, I was not referring to all women with mental disabilities, and especially not to self-conscious women like you, who know and accept their weaknesses, who live with them and get support if needed. I was rather referring to some women with psychological illnesses or anxieties or depression, who refuse to get (medical or phychological) help to raise their child, or perhaps (as a part of their illness) they just DON'T KNOW that they need help. Their weakness is not "visible to a naked eye" so nobody complains, nobody knows they need help, so nobody offers help. And of course nobody would even think about taking away their right to bear children, just "for their benefit" (I am quoting Ashley's mother). Dear Zellie, thank you so much for your contribution.
You are and should feel connected to the struggle of women with physical disabilities. A child needs above all love, and you, or a physically disabled mother, can offer lots of it. You can also offer other things, that a non-disabled person will not be able to offer. As you will not be able to offer some things, that a non-disabled parent will be able to offer. The idea of eugenics is so wrong! We can’t compare the vitamins of an orange juice with those of a glass of milk – which one is more/less useful? There’s no comparison and there’s no means of selection! We should just stop comparing unequal things and start interacting them and mutually supporting them, so we can get the best out of both.

In my blog post, I was not referring to all women with mental disabilities, and especially not to self-conscious women like you, who know and accept their weaknesses, who live with them and get support if needed.
I was rather referring to some women with psychological illnesses or anxieties or depression, who refuse to get (medical or phychological) help to raise their child, or perhaps (as a part of their illness) they just DON’T KNOW that they need help. Their weakness is not “visible to a naked eye” so nobody complains, nobody knows they need help, so nobody offers help. And of course nobody would even think about taking away their right to bear children, just “for their benefit” (I am quoting Ashley’s mother).

]]> By: zellie http://blog.ina-mar.com/archives/97/comment-page-1#comment-25917 zellie Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:20:27 +0000 http://blog.ina-mar.com/?p=97#comment-25917 You are right that the current debate (which could and should be louder and more public) about the right to bear children concerns women with physical disabilities more than mental disabilites. However, as a young woman with mental illness and learning disabilities married to man with learning disbilities, I feel connected to the strugle of women with physical disabilities, for I fear that if society accepts nutering for women with physical disabilities, then we will have started down the slippery stroke back to eugenics and I or my family members will be next. You are right that the current debate (which could and should be louder and more public) about the right to bear children concerns women with physical disabilities more than mental disabilites. However, as a young woman with mental illness and learning disabilities married to man with learning disbilities, I feel connected to the strugle of women with physical disabilities, for I fear that if society accepts nutering for women with physical disabilities, then we will have started down the slippery stroke back to eugenics and I or my family members will be next.

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