Down Syndrome Awareness Month

For many years I would write and share about the joy of Down syndrome during the month of October and on March 21st. I've always loved sharing about both adoption & that little extra chromosome of love that is embedded into my kids.  But I've also become increasingly aware of not wanting to make my children mascots for a cause they don't yet understand and can't choose to participate in.  So I've held back.  And except for school IEP meetings and the occasional medical appointment (and when Isaac sticks both legs behind his head and rolls around on the ground like a potato bug) Down syndrome is not at the forefront of my brain on a daily basis. Our lives, as discombobulated as it may look from the outside, is just us being us.   Ironically, for Down syndrome Awareness Month, I'm writing about not being acutely aware of the Down syndrome in my day to day life.  Go figure. 

There has been a lovely little awareness piece going around the interwebz about Dr. John Langdon Down who helped classify Trisomy 21 and advocated for humane inclusion:

"Down syndrome is named after John Langdon Down, a British physician who was the first to classify the condition in 1866. John Langdon Down began his career as chief physician of Earlswood, an institution for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Prior to Earlswood, John Down had no experience caring for people with these types of disabilities. But something about them interested him. He saw their value and their humanity in a time when others didn’t. He genuinely enjoyed being around them, and he became infuriated by the way they were treated. Corporal punishment was common, there was poor hygiene, high mortality rates, and nothing enjoyable or worthwhile for the patients to do. John Langdon Down insisted on change. He hired all new staff, demanded proper care and hygiene, prohibited punishment, and offered crafts and hobbies to his patients. He took beautiful portraits of his patients, dressing them in their nicest gowns and suits, and posing them in flattering ways. He used this portrait collection of over 200 photos to support his clinical description of Down syndrome, pointing out the physical features he noticed as well as the other clinical observations he made.

In 1868, he bought a large white mansion as a home for people with Down syndrome, rather than an “institution”. He ensured that the mansion met the highest standards of comfort and hygiene. All people who were brought to the mansion were privately educated. They were taught to ride horses, garden, and craft. Creative outlets were provided and he had a small theater built as an addition to the mansion. This mansion was called Normansfield, and is still around today in the UK. Now, it is named The Langdon Down Center and Normansfield Theater.

So “Down” has nothing to do with delays, or disposition, or prognosis of the syndrome. It’s just named after a really, really cool person.

These are some photos from John Down’s collection. Beautiful then and beautiful now!"

I love those pictures <3 but I love this one even more:

Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month from the two coolest T21'ers there are.