National Down Syndrome Month

By Marilee Senior | DOWN SYNDROME & SPECIAL NEEDS

If you have read “about us” you know that the genesis for Wordy Worm® Reading is Casey O’Halloran, a young man with Down syndrome, who struggled to learn how to read and finally was successful.   Wordy Worm® is our mission to help other families avoid the years of struggle, frustration, and failure Casey faced.   October is National Down Syndrome Month, so I digress from our usual reading-specific topics to share a personal reflection with you.

This past Saturday evening, at the conclusion of the vigil mass, the priest wanted to bring the congregation’s attention to Respect Life Sunday, the first Sunday in October.  Among his points, he mentioned that 90% of babies identified en utero as having Down syndrome are aborted.

The priest’s statistic led me to do a little research about that percentage.  As unbelievable as it sounds, that number is documented.  (nytimes.com; May 9, 2007) (abcnews.go.com; Nov. 2, 2009)

One perspective is that there are many parents who, upon being given a dismal prediction of the future by their doctor, choose to abort the baby.  These parents don’t want their child to go through a life-time of hardships and difficulties.  They worry about the child’s “quality of life.”

This, then, brought to mind a quote I had read in March in the National Down Syndrome Congress campaign featuring 21 Quotes from 21 Individuals with Down syndrome.

For me, one quote stands out above all the others.  It seems Mark was given a class assignment to write about his worst day ever.  Mark struggled with the assignment; then explained, “I don’t know what to write.  I’ve never had a bad day!”

These two experiences gave me pause to reflect.  Perhaps they will do the same for you.

It’s National Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  Please ‘share’ with those you think might like to reflect as well.

(Click on the picture below to see the YouTube video of quotes.)

 

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