Genetic technology to prevent disabilities: how popular culture informs our understanding of the use of genetics to define and prevent undesirable traits.

While the demand that we protect genetic diversity at the risk of allowing for the birth of disabled children is arguably abhorrent, there are some disabled communities that take offense at efforts to eliminate their disabilities through genetic selection; typically, the deaf community comes to mind. More recently, the measles outbreak, associated with unvaccinated children due to concerns of autism, has resulted in the non-neurotypical community, particularly high-functioning autistic individuals, also coming out in defense of their disability and their quality of life. As a result, in assessing what ought to be the metes and bounds of selection in the course of assisted reproduction, we look to one area of law to best accommodate the moving target of parental intentions in employing that selection. To this end, we aim to provide a framework for preventing the misuse of the technology. With current technologies, putative parents have an unprecedented opportunity to select against a whole host