Greetings!
I'm slightly bending the "Sunday post" rule (although I'm sure you're all reading this on Sunday!). Today is basically "Down syndrome" awareness day. Can you guess why? It's a tricky one...
Down syndrome is when a third copy of the 21st chromosome is present. 3rd copy. 21st chromosome. 3/21! Get it? As part of awareness, I'll present my own two little "teaching points":
1. I never knew this but it's actually Down syndrome versus what I thought it was - Down's syndrome. The man's name that discovered it is not possessive. It used to be possessive but was dropped to emphasize it was not actually he who had the condition.
2. There is something called "People First" language. This movement is trying to encourage people to not say "Down's kids", "Down's babies" or "Down's families" - it's putting the emphasis on the condition before the person. You wouldn't say "High Blood Pressure John". The right way to think and speak about it would be "Ellie is a little girl who happens to have Down syndrome".
The main question parents (including yours truly) want to know when given this diagnosis is "will we still be happy?" and "will my child be happy?". Well, it will take me a lifetime to continue to learn the lesson of happiness versus joy but I think this video speaks for itself.
