"Shallow End of the Gene Pool"

[funnel101]

Rob used the phrase "shallow end of the gene pool" while we were watching a movie last night. It's a phrase I've used in the past. But last night was different, because now I know where that phrase originated from.

And I don't think it's funny anymore.

I don't think it's funny because I know that people with "feeblemindedness" (i.e., epilepsy, learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, or "loose morals") used to be sterilized, by force, in the US, and that our eugenics program was an "inspiration" to the Nazis.

I don't think it's funny anymore because society assumes a life with a disability is worth less than a life without one.

I don't think it's funny anymore because a fetus with a disability, or with a high chance of having one, is more likely to be aborted than a fetus without one.

I don't think it's funny anymore because I used to think that it would be better for me not to have a baby than to risk having one with JRA, because I didn't want to put the child "through that".

I don't think it's funny anymore because I know what it felt like to get off of the Special Ed bus with all my classmates watching, assuming I was Less of a Person than they were.

I don't think it's funny anymore.