The Problem With Down Syndrome: Part 4

Posted: August 9, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: advocacy, Down syndrome | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments

What is the problem with Down syndrome?  I have been struggling with this, but I think it is not so much whether there is a problem (there’s not), but the drive behind the creation of a “problem” label.  It is not, in and of itself, anything but a genetic condition.  Just like anyone who lives on this earth, health outcomes are wide and varied.  Most will have an intellectual disability and many get hung up on that.  I see no inherent problem with intellectual disability, however.  Intellectual disability has no guaranteed bearing on quality of life, as far as I can see.  Some people live happy lives, some people don’t, intellectual disability or not.

So what is the problem? Read the rest of this entry »

Inhabiting the Place Between

Posted: March 17, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: medical stuff | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments

This post is mostly about medical stuff, but let me start by writing about a toy fast that is currently taking place in our home.  I read another blogger and her own toy fast, and, whoooee, it really appealed to me.  She described exactly what happens in our house.  The Taters come downstairs, then immediately do something that she describes as the “dump and scatter”.  Between Mouse and Chipmunk, it takes about ten minutes flat to spread every toy known to man around our small house.  Puzzle pieces become chocolate chips, coasters get stuffed into a bag, never to be seen again, blocks get dumped out but never used, it is a hot mess. Read the rest of this entry »