Selecting for deaf children seems crazy to me

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:16:50 +0000

Listening to Radio4 this morning there was a debate about IVF and screening and the suggestion that a deaf couple might want to screen their embryos in order to select for a deaf child. This sounds crazy to me.

Hearing is a normal, useful, sense. We talk of "hearing loss" because it means a diminution of something useful. Why would you wish to deprive your child of the power of easy conversation? Of the love of music? Of all the advantages hearing brings. Being deaf may have some compensations but do they really equate to the wonderful ability to hear?

And what do you say to your child? How do you tell them that you deliberately insisted that they be deaf. Okay you are selecting among embryo's, this child was always - if born at all - going to be deaf. But that's going to be little comfort, I think, to a child who will wonder if it could have had hearing but was denied it.

I'm not saying it's wrong or trying to condemn deaf parents. I'm sure they feel it's right somehow. But I definitely don't understand it.

Curiouser and Curiouser! on biology

Selecting for deaf children seems crazy to me