A photo from this post.
Here are the top five posts posted in 2015:
5. What’s (still) missing from the new prenatal test: A study compared cell free DNA to conventional screening and found that cfDNA screening misses many other conditions. This was a concern raised when cfDNA screening began–that its marketed accuracy would cause it to replace conventional screening in clinical practice, but that it is accurate for only a limited number of conditions. This gap in information remains.
4. Leo, abandonment, & life with Down syndrome in some places: The year kicked off with a news story that went viral: a father wrote about his son with Down syndrome being born and how the mother initially refused to care for him, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars being raised, after which the mother rejoined the father and son. Writing about this international news story, I highlighted the plight of those children with Down syndrome living in former Soviet bloc countries. While a sad and depressing story, the post resulted in at least one happy ending: the news of one boy featured in an investigative report on Soviet bloc orphanages being adopted and living a happy, healthy life (read the comments).
3. What exactly is MaterniT21, Harmony, verifi, & Panorama testing?: Prompted by the largest clinical study of cell free DNA, this post reports what is really being tested in contrast to what the laboratories tell expectant mothers they are testing: DNA from the placenta, not the fetus. It also links to a related post at the Prenatal Information Research Consortium, which hosted several other posts of mine in 2015.
2. A&E’s Born This Way: Down syndrome meets The Real World: Though posted just this month, the power of pop culture (and Facebook shares) drove this post about the A&E reality show Born This Way to the second spot. If you’ve been watching the show, I’m curious as to what you’ve thought of it. Leave a comment here or on the original post if you want to share your thoughts.
1. Pixar’s Inside Out: moron, mongo, and normalizing disability bigotry: The movie Inside Out was a summer blockbuster that has appeared on many end of the year lists for best movies of 2015–indeed, Juliet not only saw it twice in the theater, but received the blu-ray as a Christmas gift. No doubt its popularity accounts for being the most viewed post that was posted in 2015. Hopefully, someone at Pixar may have read the post and will reconsider when editing future movies whether to leave in remarks derogatory of individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Thank you to all readers for making 2015 the most viewed year for this blog. Thanks especially to those who have shared a post via your Facebook page, Twitter account, or other social network platform–it’s those shares that have driven these posts to the top of 2015!
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