TRI21

Turquoise

Fantastic post by Dave Hingsburger on his blog today. For me it was an exclamation point on an already wonderful Fathers Day. http://bit.ly/ar47Jq  

Florida Keys Art by Cinnamon

Cinnamon Edgar creates scenic Note cards, Photographs and Watercolors which are sold in stores and local art shows.

http://www.downsyndromepages.com/florida-keys-art-by-cinnamon.html

Downs Designs - special clothes for special people.

Our Mission is to create comfortable stylish clothing to fit the unique body shape of a person with Down syndrome and improve the quality of their lives. Learn more at: http://www.downsyndromepages.com/downs-designs.html

He’s My Joy Boy

Alot of times when people find out that our son has Down Syndrome and Autism, they feel the need to say they’re sorry. I always say the same thing, “don’t be, because I’m not”. Do I wish that he had more language.. you bet. Do I wish that any change of routine wouldn’t put him into such a “tailspin”, of course. However, I wouldn’t change him. I love him just as he is. I love the fact that he is so empathetic when someone else is upset or in pain. I love his laugh and the look he gets when he is delighted by life. He really knows the true meaning of joy and expresses it everyday. He doesn’t care how much money people have, or what they do for a living or what their IQ is. He only knows to look for and see the goodness in people’s spirits. What a great example he is for how we should all live our lives. So don’t feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t know this wonderful boy.

The R Word

“I’m going to look like such a retard”.

I kept quiet.

I was in the office of a social worker recently helping them get setup on Skype and a USB headset. When they put the headset on they said, “I’m going to look like such a retard”.
I was shocked to hear this coming from a licensed social worker and felt my emotions starting to boil. I wanted to call them on it. I wanted to tell them;

• as a parent of child with down syndrome I found it insulting.
• as a person I was perturbed and immediately thought less of them.
• as a co-worker I was disappointed to hear them say that.

But … I kept quiet.

Here we had an experienced social worker, working for an agency that supports families, children and persons with disabilities. Someone who I would expect would have some sensitivty to a word that is commonly used as an insult. “Retard” or “retarded” is commonly used as an insult in everyday life and in the media, especially among teens and young adults…. and it’s not OK. It hurts and it’s mean.

But … I kept quiet.

My silence helps sustain and perpetuate the negative stereotypes. I make a promise not to let that happen again. No more turning the other cheek. I will take advantage of these situations to voice my opinion and hopefully teach someone that it’s NOT OK.

I WILL NOT BE QUIET ANY LONGER!

Blog For Down Syndrome is now at Tumblr

I’ve decided to move my BlogForDownSyndrome.com blog over here to Tumblr. I love the simplicity of Tumblr, the great community and capabilities. It’s also one less piece of software I have to maintain, patch, upgrade, worry about on my server.

I will migrate some of the old posts over to here but probably not all. I have not been actively blogging for quite awhile. Most of my time and energy has been going into my information resource directory, DownSyndromePages.com

I am looking forward to getting back into blogging about Down syndrome, autism, disabilities, individuals and families.