Friday, 11 September 2015

Weekend reading and viewing: 12th - 13th September 2015


Emotion 21 in India
Melbourne dancers, emotion21 have posted a fabulous series of photos from their recent visit to Chennai, India, performing at the 12th World Down Syndrome Congress, and at several community events in India.

How My Son With Down Syndrome Fixed a Hotel Problem I Couldn’t
Sherry Palmer, The Mighty, 3rd September 2015
... A leader sees the abilities in others, calls them to the task and then gets out of the way and allows them to do it. A leader inspires others — not with their elevated sense of self, but by their sense of seeing what’s possible and elevating others. A leader is fearless.

Sometimes I forget what a leader my son, Charley, is. But then I saw him in action first-hand this morning. Here’s what happened …


We Planned Our Trip to ‘Holland.’ Here’s Why We Didn’t Need to Stay
Rebekah Moilanen, The Mighty, 31st August 2015
... We chose Holland. We adopted our son who has Down syndrome. We fully expected his therapy sessions, his slower milestone gains, his amazing feats of double-jointedness and his beautiful little almond-shaped eyes. But somehow Holland ended up simply being stop number one on our journey around the world. We never expected his cancer, his kidney failure, his seizure disorder, his catheters, his feeding tubes and all of the other issues that he has that have nothing to do with his Down syndrome ...


Down Syndrome, Prenatal Testing, and a Teenage Soap Opera? The Importance of Switched At Birth
David M Perry, The Mary Sue, 1st September 2015
Switched At Birth is a teen soap opera ... on ABC Family (USA). It also might just be, to my continuing pleasure and surprise, the best show on television at addressing disability issues. For three and a half seasons, the show has explored Deaf issues mostly admirably. Now, the ex-girlfriend (Lily) of the brother (Toby) of the girls who were “switched at birth” (Bay and Daphne) is pregnant. In the final scene of the first new episode this fall (two weeks ago), revealed she had been through genetic screening and received a positive test for Down syndrome.

I’m the father of a boy with Down syndrome and a disability-rights journalist. The idea of a soap opera addressing an issue in which I am so personally invested would have, in almost any other context, made me pre-emptively wince. But Switched at Birth has been doing an excellent job engaging with Deaf culture and issues affecting the Deaf community for years ...


To My Daughter With Down Syndrome On Her First Day of Kindergarten
Deanna Smith, Huffington Post, 27th August 2015
... Today you enter Kindergarten. You, a big, beautiful, grown up little person, begin your educational journey ... Now as I think of you sitting tall in your seat marked with your name, listening to your teacher, learning alongside your peers, being a kindergartener, I am once again terrified ...



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