Parenting Disabled Infants essays

Parenting Disabled Infants essays Raising a disabled child is a difficult task, and it is accompanied by many trials and tribulations for the individuals parenting the child. Reproductive technology now allows humans to see the future that lies a head for their fetus. Abnormalities can be detected by different types of prenatal diagnostic testing (PDT) methods including such tests as amniocentesis and chronic villus sampling (Lawson, 2001). The majority of women who do discover that their fetus carries an abnormality after undergoing PDT decide to abort (Lawson, 74). The lack of desire to continue the growth of a disabled fetus by the participants of Lawsons study will be explained by examining the personal goals that individuals have surrounding parenting and the affects of the type of disability. Lawson argues that the underlying motives behind prenatal testing are often that disability can reduce quality of life to an extent that non-existence is preferable to living with a disability, and or that the burdens of parenting a disabled child outweigh the joys (Lawson, 2001, p. 74). A recent study reports that mothers of disabled children were shown to report significantly more physical health complaints, and higher levels of depression, stress, anxiety, and emotional distress than mothers of non-disabled children (Pelchat, Richard, Bouchard, Perreault, Saucier, Berthiaume, et al. 1999, p. 378). This directly explains the reduced quality of life that the participants in Lawsons study describe. Lawson states that many theories which deal with raising disabled children contain a cost benefit analysis factor (Lawson, 2001, p. 74). Individuals weigh the advantages and disadvantages of having children in order to make a reproductive decision (Lawson, 2001). When evaluating the cost benefit analysis of raising a disabled child it was found that rewarding aspects of raising a disabled child ...