Children are born all around the world that do not conform to the stereotype of normal as society labels it but to be more specific born with birth defects. Every year there are 140 million children born (The World Counts) of those about 120,000 are born with a birth defect, to be put simply that’s every 1 in 33 (Birth Defects are Common). As you can see it is much more common than the media and society cares to acknowledge because if they were to publicize it they would then need to inform and provide easy means to help parents with said children. Narrowing in on the commonality of a child born with defects, people should set aside the negative stigmas and focus on producing resources and awareness since the likelihood of having a child with said birth defect is more common than led on to be.
Stigmas are seen world wide linked to children that are born with defects. The most common defects, as seen from Boston’s Children Hospitals are, “ Heart defects, cleft lip, and Down syndrome,” adding on, it says the causes of these are based only on your DNA (Birth Defects). This means parents have no control over the outcome of their baby making it extremely hard for them to watch their child be a victim of stigmas. To put the harm of stigmas on display, picture the amount of adolescents who are bullied for being different in any way, now think of the children who have no other choice but to be different. Stigmas are not only harmful to the child it is being placed upon but also those who believe the stigmas because they cannot truly understand what it is like to have a defect.
To produce awareness and resources for not only the thousands of parents with children with disabilities or defects but everyone willing to learn and help we need more media coverage along with more accessible hospitals and organizations. One organization that is not well known but produces some media attention along with help to parents is the “National Birth Defects Prevention Network” (NBDPN). This organization’s main goal is to use its network to produce statewide organizations that spread awareness and resources (National Birth Defects Prevention Network). There are very few organizations that are trying to help in the ways that are needed like the NBDPN, so to produce the resources and attention that is necessary to spread awareness there must be an increase of organizations.
Defects continue to burden families and especially those with them everyday and as a society it is our duty to spread not only awareness but resources to prevent stigmas. Collectively to increase the essential needs of those with defects we must continually work to spread organizations that are made to prevent stigmas and create opportunities to those who need it most.
Works Cited
“Birth Defects Are Common, Costly, and Critical.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 Dec. 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/infographic.html.
National Birth Defects Prevention Network, https://www.nbdpn.org/.
The World Counts, https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/toxic-exposures/polluted-bodies/how-many-babies-are-born-a-day/story.
