Is it wrong to try to have a deaf child?

Is it wrong to try to have a deaf child?

Ahhh, the ethics of biotechnology:

Objectively: I guess they can argue that "deafness" is not a disability, they could say just because the ability to hear is common it does not mean it is necessary to survive. For example they could say, like in a culture dominated by music, should poeple who can't sing be considered defective?

Secondly should humans have the right to chose their offspring? Certain religions would say no, people could argue that nature should run it's course with random fertilization. Others would say we should chose but for desirible qualities such as health not cosmetic ones such as eye color, so we can eradicate certain genetically inherited diseases.

Personally: What is the couple brain impaired too? They PURPOSEFULLY want their kid to be deaf??? After having to deal with the hardships of not being able to hear- cost of special education, career pathway, job discrimination, finding a spouse, etc. they want their child to go through the same things?? I'm sure they can expose their child to their culture (sign language etc.) without subjecting the child to the actual impairment.

BTW, Have you seen GATTACA? Really interesting sci-fi type of movie about this guy is abnormal because he was concieved the normal way, while everybody else is a "designer baby" (Designer baby= parents chose,gender, hair, eye-color, etc...)

~Shalini~

I believe it is unethical to design babies in any way. Intentionally altering genetics to create any sort of quality in the baby is wrong. Yes, I think when choosing sperm/egg donors parents can pick based on the donors ethnicity, education etc because that still is a matter of chance because there are dominant and recessive genes that make the resulting baby completely chance.

However, genetically altering to get any characteristic is wrong. Hence choosing to have a baby intentionally deaf is wrong. The deaf couple should have IVF and if the baby is deaf so be it, if the baby is hearing so be it.

At the same time I want to clarify that many people do not consider deafness to be a disability. They can do most functions like a normal person. Sign language is considered a language. So a deaf person being unable to communicate with a hearing person is the same as a person speaking Russian is unable to communicate with a person speaking Hindi the language is different. This is not my personal perception, but what many deaf people believe.

However, even if a deafness is not a disease but just a different language or culture making a baby be deaf through IVF is wrong. Raising children of different culture is challenging, and takes a lot more commitment but people do it. White parents adopt black and Asian children, they work as a family to overcome challenges. Similarly normal parents lovingly raise children who are deaf, blind, mute, mentally challenged etc. We should not allow parents to start bringing back segregation of sorts.

Also genetically altering child to prevent disease is another question. Parents may have genetic disorders, or their genetics may have a high chance of producing a disabled baby. Many such parents choose IVF and screen embryos so children are not born with a deadly disease. Some say genetic alteration is unethical, others say saving a child from a disease is not. Others argue back killing one embryo in favor of another cannot be right.

Although, I think designer babies and controlling who can reproduce what kind of baby may make sense. Anyone seen Idiocracy?

Is it wrong to want an intentionally deaf baby? IMO - yes.

No amount of crying will persuade me that by being deaf the child would be closer to their parents by having same communication etc.

Closeness is brought about by love - love is what would make a child want to communicate in whichever way is possible to do so with his parents and so learn signing etc but not rstricting that child's choice of communication for the rest of the world.....

Most people would treat being deaf as a disabilty - but being deaf doesnt mean being disabled to live and with adaptations you can live a wonderful life! But I cant imagine most deaf people being selfish enough to want their child to lack what they lack deliberately and intentionally. That's not love - it's just another form of control

😡 M 😡

is it wrong to be deaf? do deafs don't have a life? is deafness a life threatning disability? is deafness a threat to the well being of society? is deafness the end of life?

naheen na...then why is it wrong for them to have a baby of their own...deaf or not deaf?

okie, read the first post this time. pehley sirf title padh ker post ker diy thha😳 😆 slight correction to my argument above - if they strive to get a deaf baby on purpose, then it is wrong. they should just go for a baby and leave rest on nature. but if all they can have naturally is a deaf child based on the genetic make up of the parents and they still want to go for the child biologically w/o messing up with the nature - it's their choice and no one shd tell them what to do and what not to do considering deafness is not life threatening or a curse on society kind of disability.