Unjustifiable Non-Therapy: Response to the Issue of Growth Attenuation for Young People on the Basis of Disability

摘要

As leaders of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the oldest multidisciplinary association in the United States representing professionals within the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities, we have great sensitivity to the concerns facing parents of children with profoundly disabling conditions. They indeed face many extraordinary challenges as they strive to raise their children, and they should be provided with the supports and services they need to ensure that their children, as any others, have opportunities to achieve all that life has to offer. Naturally, these services and supports include medical and habilitation therapies. We as a society should be supportive of innovative approaches to treatment, but we should also demand a thorough evaluation of potential benefits and balance these against carefully considered risks.