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Sarah Colegrove

11/20/2012

Journal for November 20th

John Franklin Stephens wrote a letter to Ann Coulter in October in response to her using

the r-word to describe President Obama. John explains that he is no less of a person (although

society and Ann Coulter have labeled him as such) even though he has Down syndrome. He then

describes the discrimination that he and others face because they have been labeled as less than.

I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care,

live in low housing with very little income and manages to see life as a wonderful gift.

I found this letter to be so incredibly touching because I have a personal connection to

this issue. I have an older cousin who has Down syndrome and has faced discriminated all of her

life as a result. My mother, when she was pregnant with my younger sister, was heavily

encouraged to have an abortion because they could tell that my sister had disabilities. My mom

decided not to have the abortion because, as she said later, why societies view of her children

determine how much she loves them? My sister died at birth but I would have done almost

anything to have grown up with her.

Some of the discrimination that those who are labeled as slow face comes from within

the church. There is a lady at my home church who has become a foster parent (and subsequently

adopted) seven children who are disabled. She has had a hard time finding a church to attend

because people dont want them their (though the phrase it in a way that sounds much more

polite). They are too loud or a distraction or cant understand God.

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Every Sunday, Matt (the oldest of her children) sits in the front of the church and

worships with his whole being. Malachi (the youngest) was expected to die at birth because his

genetic donor decided to try to abort him several times which caused severe brain damage. He

has surpassed everyones expectations because he is now three and is thriving under his mothers

care. Malachi has come close to dying so many times in his short life that when we hear him

making a noise in church, joy lights up on many of the faces in the congregation because we

know that he is still alive (and the doctors said that his vocals cords would never work but they

do). All six of Malachis older siblings protect him (and each other) as if he was the most

important and precious human being in the world. How does any of this make them less? Why

are they not considered normal? Society labels me as normal, yet I love and protect my younger

siblings just as much as Malachis siblings. I attend church and sing just as much as Matt does.

Why does society seemed determine to make them less?