Abstract
Most parents-to-be hope for, and expect, a ‘normal’ baby: perfectly formed, with all its organs, limbs, muscles, and senses, and equipped to follow a normal process of growth and development. Advances in prenatal genetic testing, embryo selection, and assisted reproductive technologies seem to bring the possibility of a ‘designer baby’ within reach: a child even more precisely tailored to its parents’ dreams (Rothschild 2005). This possibility, of course, is one that does not find universal acclaim (e.g., Parens and Asch 1999). Clearly, for most parents-to-be the child they hope for will be able to see and to hear. Since the capacity to hear develops midway through a pregnancy, it is not uncommon these days for women to encourage sound perception by wearing tinkling bells or playing music to their unborn child.
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© 2014 Sigrid Bosteels and Stuart Blume
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Bosteels, S., Blume, S. (2014). The Making and Unmaking of Deaf Children. In: Eilers, M., Grüber, K., Rehmann-Sutter, C. (eds) The Human Enhancement Debate and Disability. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137405531_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137405531_5
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