Neither in Sally Phillips’ film, A World Without Down’s Syndrome, nor in your review by Julia Raeside (Last night’s TV: A documentary straight from the heart – and that’s the problem, 6 October) was there any reference to “eugenics”. Yet possibly still within living memory proponents of eugenics in America (and elsewhere) were advocating selective breeding to determine the future of society. It is worth noting that such ideas were grounded in the work of Francis Galton, who was a powerful influence on Cyril Burt, who in turn later developed the 11-plus exams. (His influence might be resurrected in the tests used to determine who is most fit for the new grammar schools we’re promised.)
Sally Phillips’ programme does, therefore, offer a timely reminder of the dangers of embarking on a determinist view of society and the risk that selective breeding is acceptable. As Phillips reported, there is a lot of pressure to avoid a potential “burden” as an outcome of the wrong sort of foetus. In America the eugenicists gathered data purporting to show which sectors of society were more (or less) fit for the future. Favoured solutions proposed to avoid a future populated by those deemed to be “unfit” for society included restrictions on immigration and enforced sterilisation. There is much in the history of that movement to warn us of the dangers of a determinist future. It is, therefore, right to have the questions raised: what kind of society do we want; and how kind do we want society to be?
Dr Simon Gibbs
Reader in educational psychology, University of Newcastle
• Hadley Freeman, in her opinion piece on A World Without Down’s Syndrome, writes that it is genuinely shocking that BBC 2 decided to screen such a blatantly anti-choice message (Sorry, Sally Phillips, but a woman should be able to know if her unborn baby has Down’s syndrome, theguardian.com, 6 October). Is she advocating censorship? In showing the joy her son with Down’s syndrome brings to her family, Sally Phillips is trying to counter negative headlines and arguments. She is not anti-choice. She wants people to have better information. We mothers who have or have had sons or daughters with Down’s syndrome should not be impeded from saying they enrich our families and lead valuable lives. It is important to have a debate about the kind of society we want to live in.
Hazel Morgan
Dorchester
