From today’s Wall Street Journal, a thought provoking article (subscription only) on how a couple revealed the birth of their child with a disability, specifically Down syndrome:

For new parents, the birth announcement is a chance to define their child to the world. But when a child is born with a disability, parents often struggle to find the words. And today, with medical advances continuing and more educational and social opportunities for children with disabilities, it is even harder to know what to say since so much of what was previously understood has changed.

After Evan Messina was born, his parents decided they would refer to his condition by its medical term, Trisomy 21, since children are born with three, instead of two, copies of chromosome 21. They felt the name Down syndrome conjured negative stereotypes and that calling it Trisomy 21 might allow people to see their child in a different way.

“We are not denying it,” says Ms. Lim Messina, 30, who is expecting their second child in the spring. But by “waiting to tell people until they have interacted with Evan,” Mr. Messina adds, they think it diminishes the chances that their son will be treated differently because he has Down syndrome.

One November morning, Evan scooted on the floor of the Messinas’ Cambridge, Mass., apartment. The Messinas were writing their annual Christmas letter again, and they debated what to say. Mr. Messina had just been asked to join the board of the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based group. Mentioning this would require explaining why he was so concerned about Down syndrome — and telling many people who hadn’t first met Evan about his diagnosis. “I am ready to do it if it will help other children,” Mr. Messina said.

Then, toward the end of the letter, came the words they had thought about for so long and chosen so carefully. “Evan was born with Trisomy 21, a genetic condition,” they wrote. “He has three normal copies of his 21st chromosome, whereas most people have two. This is a fairly common condition, also known as Down syndrome.”

I’ll admit, I have never even thought about this issue until now (let’s just assume that my Y chromosome got in the way…). For many parents, announcing the birth of a child with any disability (or birth defect) must be incredibly difficult. Personally I can understand the desire to keep the information private initially. But from a mental health perspective, I think it would be more advantageous to share the information up front. Or would that be bad advice? Also posted at RedStateMoron.