Randomness

September 12, 2018 1 Comments

 

This is an anatomically correct replica of the brain.

It was knitted across a full year by psychiatrist Dr. Karen Norbert of the National Bureau of Economic Research at Cambridge, MA.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4245919/Psychiatrist-knits-anatomically-correct-woolly-brain.html

Cut or nick one little thread and whole parts of it will unravel. Which is, of course, exactly what can happen when something goes wrong during fetal gestation or a difficult birth or any other number of causes. We have known for years, for example, that when you are born has some link to the possibility of developing a certain disease, like asthma or other respiratory conditions or all kinds of heart disease (yes fellow March babies, that’s us.) Health status is correlated with what happened to the mothers during pregnancy in particular environments lacking in Vitamin D, or exposing you to flu viruses, increasing the likelihood of high fevers, or making them take certain medications for seasonal allergies and the like. Or taking any kind of medication that turns out to have averse effect. Or self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, for that matter.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4986668/

There is reason to believe (if you do a meta analysis of many hundreds of studies) that this is also true for mental conditions like ADHD or schizophrenia, with the latter still being mostly correlated with parents genetic predispositions, but additionally associated with birth month.

So the random fact of having been conceived during a certain season of the year will affect the fragility of  your brain and body in diverse ways. The random fact of having no timely access to a safe place to give birth can harm your brain. The random fact of some gene mutating and being sent off into your DNA can undermine your health. As a consequence you are outside of societal norms and often have a difficult time to be integrated.

All this came to mind when I met with, photographed and talked to people who are living with developmental and intellectual  disabilities. The folks I met happen to have found a community that embraces them and supports them to succeed in areas that are often closed off to this constituency: the arts and performance domain. And succeed they do – the music I heard performed by them knocked me off my chair. But the random assignment of falling outside of what we as a society deem the norm, has usually bitter consequences.

Here is the full report:

PHAME: The Dignity of Risk

 

September 11, 2018
September 13, 2018

friderikeheuer@gmail.com

1 Comment

  1. Reply

    Sara Lee

    September 12, 2018

    I just sent the knitted-brain site to my grandchildren. I found it fascinating and illuminating! The other aspect of your blog was gratifying and interesting, too….

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