I read Dr Yik Keng Yeong's letter with dismay ("Parents must decide what is best for unborn child with disabilities"; June 8).

It is chilling that there are some who concur and think that parents should be responsible citizens and not bring a disabled "being" into the world, taxing education, healthcare and financial resources.

Let us examine a scenario where a child is born healthy, but develops a debilitating illness at, say, age 10, that compromises his quality of life in the future.

He may no longer be able to be a "contributing member" of society, as he might have been when he was born.

Should his parents then have the right to terminate his life, since he is not yet of age?

Perhaps if we start bringing up our children to see life as a series of challenges and crises to overcome, they will start seeing difficulties as challenges, and disabilities as merely a harder route to achieving an "ability". Perhaps then, they will not bail out the moment they hit a snag in life.

If we teach our children that life is not dished out to them on a nice silver platter, they may start to view disability differently.

As a parent of four children with varying abilities, I know all about children "pining for normality". Some days, they pine to be "like everyone else"; other days, they pine to be Superman or Peppa Pig.

Surely, all that is needed is a gentle guiding hand.

Teo Yin Yin (Ms)