I understand what everyone is saying about people not "getting it" unless they've lived it.
I will even admit that I would probably have been one of the don't get it people...
However...therein lies the danger. Its like watching a commercial for a peanut buster parfait from Dairy Queen. You don't exactly relate to wanting one, but they are advertising for a reason...
There's that subliminal message that happens when a woman in an OB's office picks up the magazine, fleetingly notices the kids on the cover, and goes on to read the article about prenatal testing. Does she do a double-take and go back to the front cover, looking at the kids again, wondering, thinking about how it would feel if 'IT' happened to her?
I'm trying to relate it all in my brain -- is it o.k. that people would criticize those of another race or religion because they don't get it? I mean, I might not 'get' Judaism, most especially because I believe that Jesus died and rose again for me
-- but, at the same time, I should not be expected to not respect or treat Jewish people as complete human beings...that I'm not horrified at the thought of what they have been through.
And perhaps, if I take the time to listen, and learn (which I have done, as I have a new family member, and a boss who are Jewish!), I will come to understand and see how they live their lives as well.
I think we do the same thing with Advocacy -- while we don't need to be getting in anyone's face about it, I think it would be quite easy to explain what is offense about this magazine's mistake...that its hurtful, and one-sided, and that its very harmful to all children with Ds to have anyone publish an article like this without seeming to even notice the error.
To me, having just made a mistake, and missed it makes it even more insulting. This is a parenting magazine that has been in business for many years -- parenting is WHAT THEY DO!!!
Even though "anonymous" didn't catch it, someone at that magazine should have.
I can buy that it was an 'honest mistake', and that no one did it with any malicious intent--but the fact that it didn't glaringly jump out at someone says a lot to me.
An obstetrician might not 'get it' because he or she has never had a child with T21, and has only read about it in medical journals, but, in my opinion, that does NOT excuse them offering doom and gloom and nothing else.
You never know who is listening when you speak -- perhaps if you calmly explain your story, someday down the line, it will click in someone who now HAS to get it, and you will have made a very big difference in their lives.
