Hi Bud, Mike and all,

The reason for the increase in multiple disabilities is simply the
rise in premature births.  More babies can be rescued due to
improved medical science, but this has the unfortunate side-effect
that it leads to a greater proportion of births of babies with
disabilities, often multiple disabilities which would have killed
them were they not kept alive by the doctors and nurses.

Cheers,

John
--
In message <[log in to unmask]>
[log in to unmask] writes:

>Mike,
>
>I am not a professional in the blindness business, I'm just a blind
>professional.  But your comment below made me want to know why blind
>children born today had so many more disabilities than those of us who were
>born a generation ago.  The first thing that comes to mind is that there
>certainly more disorders defined today than there were before.  Everything
>seems to be a disorder;  there don't seem to be as many personality flaws to
>be worked on.  A kid who  behaves badly, blind or not, has a "disorder."
>
>          Bud Kennedy
>
>          [log in to unmask]
>
>> Second, how much of the lack of braille literacy in the population of
>>blind
>> children and youth is the result of cognitive issues, resulting from the
>> condition that also caused their blindness?  For many blind children born
>> today, blindness is there least important concern, do to other severe
>> disabilities.

--
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