October is designated as yet another month: Down Syndrome Awareness Month.
I bet that most people have not heard about this observance. However, I have, because a friend of mine, Michelle, has a Down Syndrome son named Thomas.
He brings joy to family, others
Michelle has openly discussed Thomas’ life and how much joy he has brought to their family and those around him.
My husband and I have two extra season tickets to Badger football games and like to invite family and friends to join us. Last year, we invited Thomas and his grandma Shirley (also our friend) to attend a game. It was Thomas’ first Badger game, and he was so excited to see the players and especially Bucky Badger.
When we asked them to come to a game again this year, Shirley and Thomas said a resounding “yes.” Thomas certainly enjoyed the game again this year. I could tell the people sitting around us were smiling, too, as they saw Thomas’ enthusiasm for the game. And of course, he liked eating hotdogs and chips!
Welcome Down Syndrome children
I read an article that first appeared at The American Spectator in which Dr. Paul Kengor talks about Down Syndrome Awareness Month, noting that it is not marked by any signature symbols, nor by the Down Syndrome children who were eliminated by abortion. Their lives were erased before they were born, he noted. But he adds, “We should take pride, however, in those who are here, and we should not fear or halt those yet to be born.”
Dr. Kengor says that it’s tragic that 80 to 90 percent of women in America who receive a prenatal identification of a Down Syndrome child choose to abort. Dr. Kengor says that these children are not a thing to be ended. “They are lives to be welcomed,” he emphasized.
Points of awareness
Michelle included some thoughts about Down Syndrome children on her Facebook page, including points of awareness which her son and others deserve.
Quoting a friend who also has a Down Syndrome son, she pointed out that their skills, abilities, hopes, and dreams are as unique and diverse as the rest of ours. “We should also have an appreciation for how life would be if our disabilities and weaknesses (and we all have them) were visible for all to see and judge on our face.
“My son is exceptionally intelligent, as are many individuals with Trisomy 21. If they can’t learn the way they are being taught, perhaps the problem isn’t their inability to learn, rather our inability to teach in the way they need.
“Know that the deepest desires of your own heart reside in the hearts of people with Down Syndrome. There is nothing special about it; they are members of our human family, and their voices belong in our societal conversation.”
Thanks to Michelle and other parents like her who take pride in their Down Syndrome children and invite all of us to do the same.