>From:  Jason and Holly Harper <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: playing devil's advocate...
>Do the same people that feel it's wrong to breed deaf ferrets feel that
>it's wrong for deaf humans to produce offspring?  I mean after all
>deafness is a defect, right?
 
First, deafness is NOT a defect.  No disability or handicap (and
personally, I am not too fond of those descriptions, either) is a defect
and it is about time folks get over the stupid idea that disabilities are
defects in either humans or ferrets.  They are not.
 
Deaf ferrets can and do learn to use the litter box, answer to stimulus,
learn acceptable socialization skills, and interact with other ferrets and
humans.  Deaf ferrets play, vocalize, and show affection.  They are not
defective, broken, malfunctioning, or out of order.  They are living
creatures who respond to, and are capable of returning love and affection.
There will always be humans who tell stories about how much extra time and
care deaf ferrets can be.  Those stories have less to do with the minor
problems concerning the ferrets and more with showing how "special" the
human is to endure under extreme circumstances.  Well, gillywonkers to
them.
 
Secondly, the "devil's advocate" argument regarding deaf humans producing
offspring is mixing apples and oranges.  Deafness is not a mental disorder -
deaf humans are aware of the problems they face and able to adapt to the
special circumstances facing infant care.  Ferrets, on the other hand,
still rely on instinctual patterns of infant care that have been well
explained by another poster.
 
FSG
[Posted in FML issue 3114]