I read this article recently. It mentioned how new techniques were being developed so that autism could be detected in utero and the foetus removed, if required. I couldn’t get it out of my mind for a few days. Is it a good thing to weed out undesirables like autistics who are not mentally retarded but whose thought processes are different or who operate on a plane and in a dimension you and I cannot comprehend? Imagine a world where there were no autistic children or adults. Parents would be happier; children would not get ridiculed mercilessly or be refused admission to mainstream schools. Loved ones would be spared the trial of caring for such a child and worrying for their future. They would also miss the chance to receive the kind of unconditional love that can only come from children who have no ego. They would not have their eyes opened to the idea that things can be seen a lot differently than the way the world sees it. They might even be missing the chance to be the parents of an exceptionally brilliant mind who might achieve breakthroughs unimagined.
But who can say for sure if this is good or bad? A severely autistic child could be non-verbal or have a tendency to hurt himself. He may not relate to the world around him at all. He may never be self-sufficient. These are scary scenarios. Probably it is best that such children don’t experience the kind of trauma that everyday life brings but again who can say whether they are totally uninvolved? Whether they too do not long for a mother’s touch or a father’s love? How can we say that these children are incapable of affection? How can we deny them the right to live? No one knows what causes autism, no one knows how many children are autistic from birth and how many develop various versions of it. No one knows how to classify it and so you have a huge number of disorders belonging to the “Autism Spectrum”. The area of identifying the causes is so gray – then how can one detect it in the womb with any certainty? Are you eliminating a burden or possibly a unique and highly intelligent mind?
If detecting autism in utero becomes a reality, I wonder what could be next. Do we stop at removing severely autistic children or eliminate the mildly autistic ones (who have a high chance of being completely self-sufficient and to excel academically) as well just in case? Do we then go around and simply check the genetic makeup and allow only those perfect little children to be born who are free of any blemish? Years from now, will one child be so like the other in abilities that it would be hard to tell them apart? I don’t know. But I do believe that each life with its faults should have a chance. We can’t control creation – why play God?
