"Jane is not as severe as Peter....Sally is very Down syndrome..."
Almost every radio interviewer I have spoken to this week ( and there have been many) has mentioned something about the varying degrees of Ds.
Well Guys, I am here to blow that concept right out of the water!!
There is NO SUCH THING AS DEGREES of Down syndrome. As I mentioned in my previous blog...to have Ds, you need to have 3 x Chromosome 21..FULLSTOP!!!!
Now we have that sorted, this is not to say all people with Ds are exactly the same.
Just like people with 46 chromosomes, there are many types of people with 47 chromosomes (Ds).
Yes, some can be very sick, but some are very healthy. Babys whose bodys have to deal with staying alive tend to be slower to learn then healthy kids. This makes perfect sense to me!!!
People with Ds seem to have a varying IQ of between 40 & 55 (mild to moderate). People with 46 chromosomes tend to vary between 70 - early 90's).
People with Ds who are bought up in a very stimulating environment, where they are taught to take risks & taught to do things for themselves are more capable then those whose parents do everything for them or are neglected.
Are you seeing the similarity here?? I can hear you; 'Sounds just like 'normal' people'...REALLY....and there are no varying degrees of severity with them are there.
OK OK, yes, people with Ds have additional (or some different needs, mainly due to their lower IQ), but seriously this does not make them more or less Down syndrome.
If only we could have a wheel of life that we spin & we pick the degree of normality we want for our kids.......Actually I reckon it would be very dull...we would be stuck with a whole world of little clones and no diversity..
Give me diversity any day.
Ill be at the RIDE Eastern Expo in Burwood Melbourne, please pop by, say hello & buy my book.
Bye for now
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