If I didn’t know that my readers prefer me to be light-hearted, I would want to discuss a story that I saw in the newspaper this morning about a mother who is requesting that her 15 year old daughter, who has severe cerebral palsy, has a hysterectomy to ‘spare her the monthly discomfort of menstruating’. This situation, where parents apply for the operation on behalf of their disabled daughters, has apparently also happened in the US – and provoked worldwide criticism as a result.
I spent a long time tutoring a teenage girl with cerebral palsy and although I can kind of see the parents’ point, the lengths to which this medical decision could be taken in future must be seen as sinister. It certainly must have a knock-on effect on the debate surrounding the rights of the disabled to have children. What I found more disturbing was the fact that the American teenager also ‘had her breast buds surgically removed’ – apparently her breasts made the huge amount of unavoidable lifting and carrying of the young girl even more difficult. Why not just cut her legs off as well? That’d make her even lighter. I shouldn’t be flippant; I’m really not too sure about any of this – I’m pretty convinced that I think it’s wrong but I guess as an outsider I don’t have a right to comment. Just thought it was interesting. Sorry it’s not at all funny.
What IS funny, however, is OzBus. For the uninitiated, this is a new coach trip taking 39 passengers from London to Sydney, crossing Europe and the Middle East, then India, China and Thailand via Mount Everest and several other unforgettable landmarks that I’ve forgotten. When I heard about this new venture a month or so ago, I was consumed with desire and started thinking wistfully about jacking in my job and heading off to Oz on the next trip. I’m feeling less unhappy to have missed my place on the bus now, though, as the inaugural outing has met with some minor difficulties including broken air-con, deafening snoring from fellow passengers, pauses for food supplies at petrol stations only, a speeding fine and a changed itinerary that has removed China, Laos, Darwin and Everest from the list. Now the bus has broken down in Iran and the passengers are allegedly on the verge of mutiny.
I wish I could claim that this catalogue of disasters has made me smug to be at work, but I can honestly say I’d rather be waiting by a conked out coach in Iran than sitting here earning my crust. I need a holiday. Anyone coming to Vegas?
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