Are Special Kids.... A Burden?

Browsing through some forums recently, I chanced upon a debate about whether pregnant mothers should do Down Syndrome's testing or not.

Few factors that were discussed:
1. The test is costly.
2. The test is not 100% accurate and may give false results which lead to undue stress during the pregnancy.
3. The results won't matter, so no point doing the test.
4. Decision to keep or abort lies in the results of the test.

After having worked with special kids and getting to know their families, yes, it is a struggle to bring them up and teach them to be independent. But the amount of joy they bring, it's priceless.

Some of them worry about 'what if I die and I leave the burden of my special child to my existing child'? Then it got me thinking... Burden? What burden? Would you consider your siblings a burden? No matter what happens to my siblings, I will never consider them a burden.

Yes, the child did not choose to have a sibling who is special. But along the way, I'm sure the special child will touch his/her siblings and family love will grow.

One of my friend's brother had a very bad viral attack that damaged his brain. From a bright young man in NS, to a vegetable, then slowly recovering to perform daily tasks but he's no longer the same as before. Did my friend give up on his brother at any point of time? No. In fact, he gave up a relationship with his then-gf to focus on earning money and caring for his brother. And now that his brother is getting better and more independent, he's re-starting his social life. He got his priorities right and now, many girls admire him and he has finally found someone who share the same passion to help his brother. Was he 'burdened' in any way? He told me that he learnt most from his brother than any other experience in the world.

When I was pregnancy with my boy, it never crossed my mind to do the DS testing because DS is not something that is contagious. It is something that we can learn to manage and help the child to learn to be independent over time. So, terminating a pregnancy just because the child may not come out normal has never been my or my hubby's thoughts.

God gives you a child. Treasure the child, even if it's only for a second. Treasure it. No life should be taken away just for convenience or fear of being burdened.