People with Down syndrome are misunderstood in a world that should care

Growing up, I was always around people with different types of disabilities. That made life difficult because I have always had a physical disability, but I was high-functioning.

Just because I was around people with lowered functioning disabilities doesn’t mean I was better than anyone.

Regarding lower-functioning people with disabilities, I want to talk about Down syndrome. A disability that not only affects chromosomes but is also visibly detected in the face.

Over 400,000 people in the United States alone have Down syndrome.

Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21.

For centuries, people with Down syndrome have been alluded to in art, literature, and science. It wasn’t until the late nineteenth century, however, that John Langdon Down, an English physician, published an accurate description of a person with Down syndrome. It was this scholarly work, published in 1866, that earned Down the recognition as the “father” of the syndrome. Although other people had previously recognized the characteristics of the syndrome, it was Down who described the condition as a distinct and separate entity.

In recent history, advances in medicine and science have enabled researchers to investigate the characteristics of people with Down syndrome. In 1959, the French physician Jérôme Lejeune identified Down syndrome as a chromosomal condition. Instead of the usual 46 chromosomes present in each cell, Lejeune observed 47 in the cells of individuals with Down syndrome. It was later determined that an extra partial or whole copy of chromosome 21 results in the characteristics associated with Down syndrome. In 2000, an international team of scientists successfully identified and cataloged each of the approximately 329 genes on chromosome 21. This accomplishment opened the door to significant advances in Down syndrome research.

As always, when it comes to conjugal disabilities, they are not all the same.

People who have lower-functioning disabilities like Down syndrome are and have always been an essential part of Society. By the way, people with Down syndrome aren’t always low-functioning members of society.

Here are some people who did and who have made significant contributions to society who have Down syndrome.

Actor Christopher Joseph Burke was in a popular ground-breaking TV show in the late ’80s and early ’90s, playing Charles Chorky Thatcher on Life Goes On. He lives in New York with his parents but has a weekend home in Long Island. He works for the National Down Syndrome Society, advocating for people with disabilities, and occasionally Acts.

Puerto Rican native Sophia jirau, who’s in her 20s, became the first woman with Down Syndrome to appear in an issue of Victoria’s Secret advertisements, and it was launched on Valentine’s Day.

Grace Strobel is the first model with Down Syndrome to be signed by a skincare line. She is also marked with three different modeling agencies. She is nothing short of remarkable.

All of these people should be celebrated for their accomplishments and for leading the way for people with disabilites.