Every person with a disability can be supported to rise above any challenge

As a woman born with brittle bones, I cringe at the singling out of disabled unborn children to justify abortion (“Value dignity of unborn with disabilities”; Dec 14).

In the Guidelines on Termination of Pregnancy, the “contents of pre-abortion counselling may be adapted for women diagnosed with foetal abnormalities”. Real discrimination happens to unborn children; not every baby is accorded the same value before birth. (The womb has become the most dangerous place for a child to be in. It is there where his life could be legally snuffed out.)

No woman feels empowered when considering abortion, more so for a woman whose unborn child is diagnosed with a disability or health condition. What she and her family need is not a quick fix to get rid of a perceived burden to the family and society, but rather to be linked to the available resources and be supported in the child’s milestone development.

The human spirit should not be underestimated. Every person can be supported to rise above any challenge.

The Prime Minister recently said that the character of individual citizens, rather than blueprints and programmes, decide whether a society is good or bad, a success or a failure (“Push for more inclusive S’pore must continue: PM”; Dec 3).

He added, in his speech at the official launch of the Enabling Village — Singapore’s first community space for people with disabilities — that an inclusive society can be built by valuing everyone and through active citizenship.

Before any person with a disability can be valued, he must be given an equal opportunity to live.

In the 1970s, when ultrasound scans and pre-abortion counselling were unheard of, I was given a chance at life. My mother, the primary carer, had no support group or professional advice on how to care for a special-needs child.

But she had the tenacity and responsibility that come with motherhood. At birth, my bones were breakable at every wrong touch. My childhood was spent in hospitals healing from fractures. Outsiders deemed me a child with no future.

All I had was an extraordinary mother who believed in maximising her child’s potential. I was given education and am now an educator with the ability to impact lives.

As one who was seen as hopeless at birth, not even my parents could have predicted a fruitful life for me. All I needed was that chance.

Even as I celebrate my birthday each year, 8,515 babies last year never got to celebrate theirs here. Every child deserves a birthday.
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