Dr. Karen Gaffney, founder and President of the Karen Gaffney Foundation, was recently featured in an interview with Live Action, a pro-life advocacy organization. Live Action reached out to Dr. Gaffney in order to get her response to the argument that “babies with disabilities are better off aborted.” In the interview, Dr. Gaffney talks about her life’s work, and describes some of her greatest achievements. She explains that although having Down syndrome makes her different from other people, it has not prevented her from having a good life.
It’s okay – I know I’m different than you. I look differently, I talk differently, I walk differently . . . sometimes it takes me longer to learn things. Now, another thing that is different about me is that I can probably swim much longer and much farther than many of you watching this video . . . I have a regular high school diploma, a two-year college degree, an honorary doctorate degree, and a good paying job. In short, my life is amazing!”
And Dr. Gaffney wants people to know that she is not the exception – she goes on to describe the great accomplishments achieved by others with Down syndrome. They too, can achieve the apparently impossible – if they are “given the chance to live a full and inclusive life.”
According to her website, Gaffney’s foundation “is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to championing the journey to full inclusion in families, schools, communities and the workplace for people with Down syndrome or other developmental disabilities.”
Watch the full interview below.
