We are the same in some aspects and we differ in others. It’s a fact. People with Down syndrome tend to lag behind in some areas. We identify these areas, pick out the differences and make charts and standards out of them. Then we draw the line and decide we’re more normal than they are.
Some of us sympathise with them, some of us belittle them, and some of us are indifferent. But let’s face it. Pretty much all of us think we’re bigger and better than they are, and that the world would be better off accommodating us than them.
Look closer and you’ll notice something else that makes you think twice before passing that judgement. For a start, here are 12 general observations:
1. Like you, they gasp and wail for breath when they slip from the womb to the world.
2. They have cute little toes that you can’t help nibbling whenever you put on their little socks and shoes.
3. Like you, they coo and babble and crawl and dodder.
4. They experience the same spectrum of emotions and sensations as you do, perhaps even more.
5. Most of them probably smile more in a day than you could in a week.
6. They are more contented in life than you because they don’t sweat the small stuff.
7. They are usually more expressive than you because they aren’t as bothered about how they are being seen by others.
8. But they do get depressed when they are being picked at and bullied. Don’t you?
9. They love giving hugs and receiving them because they are so much more accepting than you.
10. Because of their innocence and simplicity they probably scheme, connive, collude, judge, and deceive much less than you.
11. Compared to them you’re probably more likely to exert a negative influence on society, for instance, as a school bully or a criminal. And we wonder why…
12. As observed in my own child with Down syndrome, the average turnaround time from displeasure to joy is thirty seconds. Try matching that.
In the United States, about 67% of unborn babies diagnosed with DS are aborted annually. In Europe, the number climbed to a tragic 92%.
How did we fare? I couldn’t find official statistics but this snippet offers a glimpse.
Between 2005 and 2008 KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital screened over 12,000 pregnant women. Over 600 of them were of “high risk”, and out of them 30 Down syndrome pregnancies were confirmed via amniocentesis.
All 30 foetuses were destroyed.
Earlier this year, newspapers all over the internet published articles about a revolutionary blood test that could accurately predict, within 5 days, a Down syndrome baby by the time you are 10 to 14 weeks pregnant. The test is non-invasive and was hailed as a life-saver considering over 300 babies are lost annually from miscarriages induced by invasive pre-natal screening tests.
But what most articles didn’t mention is how easily a decision could now be made to terminate the pregnancy and how many little Down syndrome foetuses will perish between a pair of medical forceps.
We might lament our plight. We might whinge, “I didn’t sign up for this.”
Well, the little sleeping child in your tummy didn’t either.
If only we’d let them, people with Down syndrome would live, create, and contribute. Perhaps not as well as people without Down syndrome. Granted. We could’ve made bolder leaps and greater achievements. But guess what else came along?
We’re so clever that we plot and scheme. We covet and crave. We dominate and deceive. We got more technology on our fingertips but less time on our hands. We battle, we pillage, we raze, we murder.
Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if people with Down syndrome are out to show us just how dysfunctional we have become.
Advances in medical science could mean many more abortions and many more Down syndrome babies killed. It could also mean discovering more strengths and capabilities in people with Down syndrome and extending their reach and achievements further than we ever could.
The choice is ours.
So on World Down Syndrome Day 2016 we don’t just celebrate the beauty of the Down syndrome community.
We acknowledge the qualities in us that fail to measure up, and we set our measly little minds thinking.