We must have different senses of humor. The ending paragraph of the story includes this horrifying, terrifying description of an awful and truly sad condition that I wouldn't wish on anyone. "Denyse was born with spina bifida ("split spine"), a malformation of the vertebrae that leaves the spinal cord unprotected. Spina bifida often results in hydrocephalus, an increase in pressure in the cerebrospinal fluid filling the ventricles (large cavities) of the brain, distending the brain from within. "
If it makes you feel any better, my daughter is about to turn five and has spina bifida. She is quite the chatterbox, but due to advances in modern medicine, got a brain shunt put in at a very early age so she’s normal intelligence for her age. Her prognosis is quite good, she’ll like live into her 60s or 70s.
The shunt isn’t something we have to think about very often, but it’s truly a remarkable piece of hardware that makes it so she can live a fairly normal life.
That's the most heartwarming thing I read today. I am very happy we have technology to mitigate the effect of this horrifying condition, and that your daughter benefits from it. Thank you for sharing.
So here's a scary thought: If these people, if not given shunts, are eloquent enough to appear normal to someone not interrogating all the details, I could easily see one raised on a diet of the right kind of rhetoric being able to go on a convincing-sounding rant about how spina bifida isn't really a disability and that it was morally wrong to want to surgically correct their condition.
And that that content is exactly the sort of thing that would make a successful viral TikTok video.
Much like how LLMs will gladly and emphatically inform you that they're sentient beings with real feelings if given the right leading questions.
