I was pawing through the various syndrome descriptions linked to at the
bottom of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromosome_abnormalities
reminding myself of the various developmental disasters that can occur
during pregnancy that our new American Republican Vice-Presidential
candidate believes we should legislate be carried to term (depending on
which story you believe, she herself either knowingly carried or forced
her unmarried teenage daughter to carry a Down's Syndrome pregnancy to
term), and was struck by something more than reinforcement of my firm
conviction of the criminal irresponsibility of such policy.
I was struck in particular by two descriptions:
"Williams syndrome (WS; also Williams-Beuren syndrome or WBS) is a rare
neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a deletion of about 26 genes from
the long arm of chromosome 7. It is characterized by a distinctive,
'elfin' facial appearance, along with a low nasal bridge; an unusually
cheerful demeanor and ease with strangers, coupled with unpredictably
occurring negative outbursts; a predisposition to violent outbursts;
mental retardation coupled with unusual (for persons who are diagnosed as
mentally retarded) language skills; a love for music . . . .
