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Every parent wants the best for their child. Even children born with disabilities deserve the best their parents can give. However, what happens when a couple's desire to make their disabled daughter happy turns into a desire to play God? In CNN's Disabled girl's parents defend growth-stunting treatment by Amy Burkholder, Ashley's sad story is told.

Ashley was born with cerebral palsy and would only ever have the brain capacity of a six-month-old. Her parents (who remain anonymous) loved and cared for her despite the severe brain damage. Things turned bad when her parents decided that her brain wouldn’t be the only thing that never matured. At age six, Ashley’s parents had Washington doctors perform a hysterectomy breast surgery, and inject high amounts of estrogen into her body to prevent her from ever growing up.

This article matters to the world because Ashley’s parents now want to make it legal for other families with children like Ashley to undergo the same operation. Many call this an outrage, perverse, and disgusting. Ashley’s parents stated, “ this would make it easier to cuddle and carry a child who can do little more than lie propped up on a pillow.” Is it fair that Ashley will never grow, never have her period, never grow breasts, never be a woman simply because her parents thought it would be easier for them to cuddle her? There are hundreds if not thousands of "pillow children" as those like Ashley are called who are just fine without this operation. It is not fair to play God with this girl's life. It is true, Ashley will never have children, nor will she get married, but does that make it right to rob her of her right as a living, breathing human being to grow up whole?

This article matters to me because of how Ashley's parents have restricted her. Having worked with disabled children last year, I know what they can be capable of if we let them try. I helped a boy with severe autism learn animals and phrases in Spanish, and even a year later, he recalls them. My fellow students helped a young girl with spinal bifidia and other mental disabilities learn how to speak quite well in sign language. Given the chance, even the most impaired are capable of great things. It is true, children like Ashley may never be great successes, may never go to the moon, write a best-selling novel, or even walk on their own, but as Anne Radar, one 43 year-old woman with cerebral palsy put it, "it's dehumanizing" to take away a child's right to even age like every other human on the planet.

"The parents are not seeing the potential of the child; they are seeing a baby," says Radar. Yes, Ashley's brain may never mature to anything older than that of a six-month-old, but is it fair to take away the chance for her body to do so?

So, my fellow bloggers, my fellow humans, what do you think?