I'd like to direct you to a post that Especially Heather made this morning on her blog. Please go read it and give it some thought - and read my thoughts listed below if you'd like.
I've had the pleasure of raising a speechless child - at five, my sweet #1 had only a few sounds that meant anything, but he had a lot to say. He was not capable of controlling his larynx and producing many different sounds, but he could communicate his desires with little noises and signs or a voice-output device or, if nothing else, his eyes and smile.
And yet - so many thought he was mindless just because he was speechless. We'd get looks of pity in Walmart, mournful looks in doctors' offices, and strange stares just about everywhere.
Just because he was different, and therefore, I was different because he was mine.
But we weren't different - we are just people. His voice didn't cooperate, his body didn't perform as it should, and his mode of transport was always wheels, but if anyone of those who started had taken a second, they would have found themselves transformed by his smile. While no babies are born perfect, every baby is born a person. It degrades us all to rob anyone of that status.
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