Missing the Forest for the Trees? A Disability Rights Take on Genetics Commentary on Stowe et al., Journal on Developmental

genetic and related technology may in fact be the most profound that the disability community has faced since the heyday of the eugenics era. In light of this, it is somewhat puzzling why the authors have not chosen to articulate more clearly the primary concerns of the disability community or to provide a more critical analysis of these issues and some of the more pressing, albeit radical from some perspectives, responses that the disability community needs to be considering in earnest. Given that we are at a point where 60 to 80 percent of all fetuses with Down syndrome are being selectively aborted and the only reasons incidences rates are not dramatically falling are the rise in maternal age and the slow methodical consideration of all the nuances and complexities of genetics, this seems an insufficient response. Below I offer a somewhat more radical take on genetics and intellectual disability and offer some suggestions on what kinds of responses need to be considered. As noted above, the termination rates for Down syndrome are already alarmingly high. With improvements in Maternal Serum Screening, whic