Waiting on the World to Change

Now we see everything that's going wrong

With the world and those who lead it

We just feel like we don't have the means

To rise above and beat it

It's hard to beat the system

When we're standing at a distance

So we keep waiting

Waiting on the world to change

It's not that we don't care,

We just know that the fight ain't fair

So we keep on waiting

Waiting on the world to change

One day our generation

Is gonna rule the population

So we keep on waiting

Waiting on the world to change

~John Mayer

I felt "Waiting on the World to Change" was an appropriate start to what I like to see as a historic moment for donor conceived people on this side of the Atlantic.

First and foremost, congratulations to Olivia Pratten for taking on the British Columbia Supreme Court in what will [hopefully] set a legal precedent for the rest of Canada and possibly even the US!!  I had the opportunity to meet this amazing young woman in 2005 while at the Infertility Network's Donor Conception Symposium in Toronto.  There were a handful of us offspring present at the conference - Joanna Rose, Becca Hamilton, myself, Olivia, and several others.  In the middle of the conference Olivia gave an impromptu speech from the audience...as a former "poster-child" she stood up and told the entire conference, for the first time ever, that she disagreed with donor conception, and that she felt it was her right to know her biological father and that no one has the right to deny someone that.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the house (at least for those of us offspring present, who understood just how hard that was).  To see her then and be proud of her for being so frank and heart-felt, and to see her now taking on the government - I am SOOOO unbelievably proud of her!!!

Secondly, this week an interesting conversation has ensued on PCVAI.  We offspring in the US are finally realizing that our futures should not be dependent on the hands of the DI mothers who put us in this situation, with their registries that do little for older offspring without donor numbers or information.  A registry is only as good as it's database (as is CaBRI), and these registries are not targeting the people that we, as adult offspring, need to target.  Donors aren't stay-at-home moms that spend their days watching Oprah and morning syndicated talk shows, so they're not going to hear about these registries.  Local papers may attract some people, but again, they're not targeting the right people.  What we, as adult offspring need, is a better way to target and advertise the registries to the people who were past donors.  Our idea is to write a story and ask Alumni magazines of colleges and universities (which have/are affiliated with or recruit donors for major sperm banks and clinics) to publish the story in their quarterly/monthly magazine for past donors to see.  It is our duty to stand up and start fighting for attention, rather than sit back and wait for our donors to accidentally stumble across the registries themselves.  

Well, I was going to write more here, but being that it's midnight I think I will retire for the evening.  I will keep updates posted about both Olivia's court hearing and PCVAI's alumni magazine advertising.