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As a furious ethical debate rages over Government plans to discard embryos with a 'deafness gene',Hilary Freeman-whose own brother was born profoundly deaf-says such a decision would have robbed him of a rich and fulfilling life.The day I realised how big an impact my younger brother's disability had on his life is one I'll never forget.It was 1987 and I was 16.My brother, Jeremy,was 14.I'd just come home from school and was changing out of my school uniform when I heard a horrible, cacophonous noise coming through the wall that separated our bedrooms.It was a low-pitched,distorted sound,like something emanating from a monster in a horror film. When I could bear it no longer,I stormed into Jeremy's bedroom and tapped him on the shoulder."What on earth are you doing?"I shouted over the din.He smiled at me, oblivious."I'm playing my record,"he said,swaying his hips in an approximation of dancing."Rat in my kitchen what am I gonna do..."he chanted,repeatedly."It's UB40!Don't you like it?" Grimacing against the noise,I walked over to his turntable and peered at the record revolving on it.I could see that it was indeed the band UB40's current single,Rat In Mi Kitchen.But instead of playing it at 45 revolutions per minute,the speed at which seven-inch records used to be played, Jeremy was playing it at 33rpm, like a 12-inch.He hadn't noticed anything was wrong because he couldn't hear the record.I ran back into my bedroom and wept privately, so he would not see my reaction.Like all his friends at school, Jeremy had spent his pocket money on a record player and had begun buying records to play on it, despite the fact that he could not appreciate music, make out lyrics or distinguish between melodies.He had done it to fit in, because he was a teenage boy who didn't want to be different, and teenage boys like pop music.But Jeremy was different. He was born profoundly deaf, able to hear a few of the loudest sounds.Nobody is certain why. My mother always believed it might be because he was born a few weeks prematurely.Only last month, after genetic testing - a very new scientific development - we learned that he has a mutated gene, which may have been passed down by ancestors, or which could have become damaged spontaneously at the time of his conception.Whatever its cause, my brother's deafness came as a huge shock to our parents, who already had one child - me - and weren't aware of any deafness in the family...To read more go to:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=531170&in_page_id=1770
As in the days of Noah....
