By Isabelle St-Jean, RSW
Special Needs Coordinator at JFSA
All around the world, this week, various events are helping to raise awareness about Down syndrome. As people create community around those events, more gets to be known about the gifts and abilities often associated with people who have this syndrome.
In BC, the Lower Mainland Down Syndrome Society in collaboration with the Down Syndrome Research Foundation are celebrating this special awareness week with a wonderful family event including Rick Scott on Sunday, November 6th, 2011. Rick Scott is a wonderful musician, song writer and grand-father of a much cherished grand-child with Down syndrome. For information about this event, please visit the DSRF website www.dsrf.org and look up the event by clicking on the Event tab and DSRF events.
If you were among those who viewed the film Anita last year as part of the Jewish Film Festival, you would recall being touched by the sweet innocence and candour of Anita, the young women with Down syndrome in the lead role. Indeed, as psychologist Elisabeth M. Dykens wrote in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, “…persons with Down syndrome have been consistently cast as friendly and charming, with disarming smiles.”
In his book Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Other Brain Differences, author Thomas Armstrong, PhD points out that we have much evolved with respect to including people with Down syndrome in all aspects of society. He recounts Emily Pearl Kingsley’s past story of being told by the obstetrician in the hospital: “Your child has Down syndrome and the common practice for these children is to place them in an institution immediately . Go home and tell your friends and family that your child died in child-birth.” The Kingsleys refused to do this; they decided to love and raise their son wholeheartedly. By the time he reached nineteen years of age, this child, American Jason Kingsley, had acted in a major television series and had co-authored a book entitled Count Me In. There are countless similar examples throughout our continent of people with Down syndrome who have refused to focus on limitations and assisted by their parents, have surmounted obstacles to lead a worthwhile and meaningful life.
Evidently, in the spirit of inclusion, we are wise to “count in” people with Down syndrome, to help them feel that they belong. Let us be aware of the importance of appreciate them for their strengths and to focus on the abilities they can grow and contribute to our world.
Please feel free to respond with your comments to this blog; we would like to hear from you.
Isabelle
Jewelles Smith, MA
istjeanjfsa
