Bravo to Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen, a British educator and research scientist. His belief in the following quote perfectly aligns with our own.  He is quoted in Time Magazine this week to have said the following.

“My own view is that I think all foetuses – all people – have a right to life; that the value of a person’s life cannot be judged by characteristics such as whether they have good or poor social skills, or whether they are talented or ordinary or have learning disabilities. Every individual is special, and while we are all different, no one is better or worse than any other and no one’s right to life is greater or less than anyone else’s.

Some individuals may need more support than others, and it is a mark of a civilized community that we provide such support for those who need it. Finally, diversity is part of nature, including human beings, and there are many neurological sub-types that make up the spectrum of individual differences.

Autism is not like cancer, where there are fewer controversies surrounding whether one should select embryos who will never suffer from cancer. That is because autism is not a disease, and need not lead to suffering, and with enough accommodation by society, people with autism can be free of suffering. Autism itself is a wide spectrum, and many people with autism can make valued contributions. But even those who will remain dependent all their lives are either special to those who love them, or just intrinsically special.

I have a sister, Suzie, who is in her 40’s, and has profound learning difficulties and physical disabilities. She is in a wheelchair, needs 24-hour nursing care, cannot feed herself, has almost no language, and probably has a lower level of psychological than a one-year-old. Yet she enjoys people, enjoys simple pleasures, and has a quality of life. She laughs, she cries, she sings, she jokes. My relationship with her is among the richest I enjoy. I am glad that she is alive and that she was not screened out of existence before birth and that my parents did not opt to terminate her life. People don’t have to earn their right to life by having the skills to make a contribution. They have a right to life. Period.”
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/01/14/110412/professor-simon-baron-cohen-autism-is-not-cancer.htm