Michael Cox, 25, and Taylor Anderton, 21, are just like any other young couple who wish to start a family. However, their dreams are being met with opposition and discouragement from their own parents due to their complex situation.
Michael and Taylor, an Australian couple who have been together for six years, both have Down syndrome. They're planning to get married and have babies soon and there's a great concern that they might not be realistically ready for the challenges of parenthood.
Featured in the program "Australian Story," the young couple detailed how they met, fell in love, as well as started planning about having at least four children. Their relationship has the full support of their parents knowing full well that they are happy together.
However, when the young couple with Down syndrome expressed that they would like to have babies after getting married, their parents immediately shunned the idea. In fact, Michael Cox's father, Simon Cox, has been quite vocal about discouraging his son to have kids with Taylor. The elder Cox believes that because they have Down syndrome, they won't be able to function like normal parents, which would be unfair to their future children.
"Michael can't get behind the wheel of a car," Simon Cox told Brisbane Times. There are many physical limitations to his son's condition that Simon thinks Michael won't be able to fully grasp the demands of parenting. "It's not just having a baby and loving a child, it's bringing up an adolescent, dealing with social issues, school issues and so on," Simon further said, citing the potential "disasters" that could arise if the Down syndrome couple will have children.
Taylor's mom, Catherine Musk, also shared her apprehensions for the couple's plan to have children. "It's not going to happen, it can't happen," Catherine reiterated, Daily Mail reports.
Michael and Taylor believe their parents might just be too protective of their situation and they are not offended by the discouragement. But statistically speaking, a couple with Down syndrome might have difficulties with getting pregnant. On the slim chance that they do procreate, their child has a high probability of also having the same condition, experts revealed to ABC. Learn more about Michael, Taylor and their parents' dilemma in the video below.
