Two 6th grade girls came to my home selling goodies for school…I was holding Maddie when I opened the door…they commented on how cute Maddie was…then one asked “is your baby Chinese” I was not offend and I thought it was kind of funny…I responded “no Maddie was born with Down Syndrome and one of the features is almond shaped eyes with a slight slant” one responded with a nice look and a smile… “so she is a special baby” I responded ‘I like to think so” …a couple minutes later a little boy came popping in from my childcare and started saying hi to the girls…the one girl asked “is he a special child” I responded “no he is Japanese!” I liked this conversation…and I liked it because it is how everyone should respond to the term Down Syndrome…it is not an ugly term or a I am sorry term…it is a term that should be special because there are so few babies like ours…it also made me think that if inclusion is working…I think it is working…I think this because when a child or a teen asks about Maddie…it never has a negative after tone it is simply not a big deal…my generation it is a big deal…Maddie was the first person with Down Syndrome I met or touched…maybe just maybe our babies will stop being terminated and start being accepted…92% are terminated and 1 n 733 have a little extra…
Friday, October 29, 2010
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I love envisioning that conversation. Excellent post. Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteThis really made me smile. The innocence of children allows them to ask the questions everyone should ask, rather than staying silent and staring, or creating in themselves some sort of fear/rejection of the unknown. The children are where it starts, and they have just learned something that they will take with them into adulthood, I hope. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteGreat post...I think inclusion and teaching children from a young age not to fear differences, but embrace and accept them is key to changing how society views people with Down syndrome.
ReplyDeleteThis was awesome!
I love this post, and the conversation! And this is how it should be. People just asking questions and getting infomation without fear and misinformation clouding things up.
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