Down Syndrome Awareness Is for Adults, Too

I remember when my son Alex was first born, I felt compelled to make sure everyone in our lives knew just how precious he was. I enjoyed great success, but in retrospect, Alex made it easy. Babies with Down syndrome are often adorable, and Alex was no exception. He made my advocacy job easy, and after a while, considering my success, I relaxed a bit on the advocacy. There were IEP meetings, and plenty of parenting tasks to take up my time, so campaigning for the acceptance he already enjoyed seemed somewhat superfluous.

Fast forward 14 years, and Alex has hairy legs and armpits, a deep voice, and is almost my height. As any mother does, I still think he’s the most spectacular child in the world, and as cute as ever. However, when you add in significant speech and social skills delays, compounded by the already-interesting early teen phase, he often doesn’t get the warm public reception he once did.

But as Alex’s mom, I want to tell you that he is the most thoughtful young man I know. Every single day he asks me how my day was, and even actually listens to my answer. He loves nothing more than cooking, except eating, and will cheerfully lend a hand to anyone who asks.

Alex is a gamer extraordinaire, and can beat just about everyone he knows in almost any game. He can throw an awesome spiral with a football, and hit a home run in baseball. (He gets his athleticism from his father, not me.)

Alex deserves awareness just as much as the young children do. People with Down syndrome are diverse, interesting and valuable as members of our communities. They have desires and interests, and live full, active, productive lives. More and more they are branching out into careers as actors, models, business owners, and contributing their considerable gifts to the communities where they reside, and their communities are better for it.

Follow Alethea at Ben’s Writing Running Mom.

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