>i know we dont want to say that there is something wrong with our ferrets
>(and this email doesn't intend to say that either), but if something is
>not the way it is meant to be genetically speaking, wouldn't that be
>called a defect by normal definitions of the word?
 
Before hiding behind the dictionary definition of a word, it is a good idea
to understand that the connotation of the word is sometimes more important.
Most people see nothing wrong with applying the word pet to their ferrets,
after all the dictionary definition of pet is "2 : a domesticated animal
kept for pleasure rather than utility."  The connotation, however, is that
a pet is property, rather than a living creature.  And property can be
disposed of when it is imperfect, defective, or just no longer convenient.
Animal shelters hear those excuses on a regular basis when people turn
their animal companions over to them.
 
The connotation of defective is that an object is broken, and its value
diminished and not worthy of being kept, or integrated into the "normal"
society.  In a society already obsessed with the principle of "throw it
away when it is broken," it is wrong and unacceptable to apply the word
'defective' to living creatures - whether human or ferret.  Living
creatures, which are differently challenged - whether human or ferret -
should be accorded the same intrinsic value as those which are not
"defective" or whole, or "normal."
 
I am sure the human members of the FML who are impaired (and I really don't
like that word, either) in some manner do not consider themselves defective
or broken or even "not normal." Normal, in point of fact, is a relative
term.  For a deaf ferret, it is normal not to hear.  They have a different
ability or reality.  Once that concept is accepted - and the ferrets seem
to have very little trouble accepting it - all of the so-called "problems"
of dealing with deaf ferrets will fall into place.  I routinely call my
deaf ferrets and they come when called.  The difference is that when
calling the deaf ferrets, I knock on the floor sharply to get their
attention.
 
Recognition of their abilities and acceptance of those differing abilities
as normal for them makes it possible to deal with them within their scope
and their reality.
 
FSG
[Posted in FML issue 3117]