".....She clearly denied the human rights of her own child, a child that sorely needed her care and attention....."
What human rights were denied to her daughter, and wasn't Victoria given care and attention?
April 30, 2013
Last
Friday in
The Age Newspaper there was a candid interview with the president of the
Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs
She also revealed that she gave birth to a profoundly disabled daughter, Victoria. Her daughter was born with
Edwards Syndrome, which is a very rare
chromosomal disorder. In Triggs words Victoria had been born,
“as severely retarded as anyone who is still alive can be.”
After six months Triggs took Victoria home. The Uniting Church assisted her to find a family to care for Victoria. Putting Victoria into the care of another family caused conflicting emotions in Triggs.
But it was not just disability that she would have had to confront. She would have had to confront some of the severe abnormalities that Edwards Syndrome causes and some of these can only be described as horrific. In such circumstances all she could have done is to rely on the advice of experts, in this case the doctors. The advice they were giving her was to let Victoria die. It must have been traumatic to the extreme.
In the time before Triggs took Victoria home from hospital it is quite obvious that she was preparing for her to die. People cope with these situations as best they can. Triggs seems to have tried to be detached and wanting to bond with her daughter as little as possible. It might sound inhumane but given the circumstances and the advice from doctors it is entirely understandable.
It is easy to get on ones high horse decry that Victoria is a living human being who should be treated with dignity. In any case I believe that she was. Sometimes we forget that the parents are living human beings too. Dealing with a situation where you are confronted with a lifetime of care for a child with a disability is daunting and traumatic. Each individual will respond differently. Some will throw themselves head first into the care of their child with a disability. Others, like Triggs, will make decisions based one all factors in their life, particularly the other family members who will be impacted.
Triggs chose to give up her child to the care of another family. She has also told her story in what some may describe as a politically incorrect way.
Read more:-
http://therebuttal2.com/2013/04/30/opinion/
