For those who have followed the debate over potential treatments for Down syndrome in the New York Times parenting blog Motherlode to its source here on Contrarian, I have assembled a series of links you might want to follow. Our discussion of this issue began with this post back in November. Jenn Power elaborated on her concerns here, and Dr. Ahmad Salehi, the Stanford researcher whose work touched off the discussion, responded thoughtfully here. Jenn's husband Silas Barss Donham, my son, weighed in here. Other reader commented here, here, and here. Jenn is the community leader of L'Arche Cape Breton in Iron Mines,...

13 January, 2010

Motherlode, a New York Times blog on parenting, has picked up on Contrarian's discussion about potential treatments for the intellectual impairment associated with Down syndrome — and touched off quite a debate of it its own. Our own discussion began with L'Arche Cape Breton Community Leader Jenn Power's disquiet at the assumption that Down syndrome constitutes a disease in need of curing. Jenn, who is both the adopted mother of identical twins with Down Syndrome and — disclosure — my daughter-in-law, spoke eloquently of Down traits that don't need fixing: [I]ncredible smiles, overflowing affection, stubbornness, great sense of humour, cute toes, love...

13 January, 2010

[caption id="attachment_4124" align="alignright" width="150" caption="A really old brain"][/caption] With uncanny accuracy, the New York Times's Barbara Strauch describes the workings of Contrarian's brain. The part about boiling water is particularly embarrassing....

03 January, 2010

Speaking of Glenn Greenwald, the Salon.com columnist has a fact-filled column eviscerating Barack Obama's claim that Senate Democrats are "standing up to the special interests" opposed to American health care reform. Greenwald catalogs the explosion in health insurance company stock prices as the severely watered-down reform bill edges toward passage. By way of illustration, he notes that Susan Bayh, wife of Indiana Democratic Senator Evan Bayh and board member of the Indianapolis-based insurance giant WellPoint, has seen the value of her stock in the company rise between $125,000 and $250,000 since her husband helped defeat the bill's already lame public option. Although...

23 December, 2009

Speaking of bad science, here's an early, poetic screed on  homeopathy attributed* to Rev. George Washington Doane (1799-1859), professor of belles-lettres at Washington (now Trinity) College, Hartford, Connecticut; rector of Christ church, Boston; and, later, Episcopal bishop of New Jersey: Take a little rum The less you take the better Pour it in the lakes Of Wener or of Wetter. Dip a spoonful out And mind you don't get groggy, Pour it in the lake Of Winnipissiogie. Stir the mixture well Lest it prove inferior, Then put half a drop Into Lake Superior. Every other day Take a drop in water, You'll be better soon Or at least you oughter. * A few sources sources attribute Lines...

20 December, 2009

Ben Goldacre, a physician who hosts the Bad Science website and writes the UK Guardian's Bad Science has produced a witty compendium of the year in dodgy scientific research in the UK and elsewhere. Moneyquote: A £6m Home Office drugs education study was published with no results, because it was so flawed it couldn’t produce any, we saw MPs being foolish about cervical screening and moon magic, and then when they didn’t like the scientific evidence they got from Professor David Nutt, they sacked him. If politicians want us to take them seriously on the evidence for global warming, they have...

20 December, 2009

In light of the seemingly imminent demise of Canada's long gun registry, readers may be interested in the latest gun control developments in the United States, where the Associated Press reports that 24 states have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions over the last two years. Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Utah have made it illegal for businesses to bar employees from storing guns in cars parked on company lots. Tennessee and Montana have passed laws that exempt weapons made and owned in-state from federal restrictions. In Tennessee, this would include the .50-caliber shoulder-fired rifle made by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, which the...

14 December, 2009

Haligonian Warren Reed has a sobering take on our discussion about potential "cures" for people with Down syndrome: I am still stuck on the Down Syndrome thread.  As Canadians with disabilities will tell you, Canada has a medical model of disability. The approach is, "let's fix what's wrong with you," rather than, "let's fix what's wrong with us." Hence the inaccessible buses, devilish sidewalks, and antediluvian building codes. The result is a hidden and large group of people who are disenfranchised, undervalued, ignored, and sometimes abused.  See the shocking account in Monday's Chronicle-Herald. One of my big defeats was an unsuccessful complaint...

11 December, 2009

Contrarian has learned that the Department of Community Services and L'Arche Halifax have resolved their disputes over funding and staffing levels. The newly constructed L'Arche House in North End Halifax, vacant for six months, will open in early January....

09 December, 2009

In late November, Contrarian reported that researchers at Stanford University had used a drug therapy to improve the learning skills of mice with a form of Down syndrome. Jenn Power, community leader at L'Arche Cape Breton and mother of twin boys with Down's, found the research distressing. She said people with Down's don't need a cure; they need "a society that values what they have to offer." This produced a fascinating discussion with many thoughtful contributions on all sides of the issue. At Contrarian's request, Dr. Ahmad Salehi, M.D., Ph.D., the lead researcher on the Stanford University study, has responded to...

09 December, 2009
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