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So I was driving home the other night from work and there was a car in front of me
with a few bumper stickers. The first thing that struck me was this person has a sense of balance….. well
visually anyway. There were matching bumper stickers placed in identical location on both sides of the
bumper. The second thing that struck me was that one set of bumper stickers promoted animal rescue
http://www.blogfordownsyndrome.com/ 2/5
5/2/2010 Blog For Down Syndrome
shelters and the second set of stickers promoted Pro-Choice. I love irony. My mind processed the message
as “be nice to animals, support abortion of human life”. It reminded me of a vegan couple I knew back in the
late 70’s who were against the killing of animals for food but had an abortion because they were’nt ready to
be parents.
We didn’t adopt our son 17 years ago to make a statement or send a message. We wanted to be parents and
were led to adopt a child with special needs. It has only been in the years since that I have come to learn that
90% of parents receiving a pre-natal diagnosis of Down syndrome elect to abort their child.
Right now I’m sitting with my son watching the Eagles play lose the NFC Championship game. He cheers, he
boos, he storms out of the room. It’s a guy thing. Earlier today he was at the arcade for about 90 minutes,
went to the movies and saw, Bedtime Stories, and then went to out to lunch. Yesterday was an equally full
day. He lives a full life, doesn’t suffer and neither do we. Our lives have been transformed by being his
parents.
I am convinced that more people would choose to continue their pregnancies if they better appreciated what
it meant to raise a child with Down syndrome. There are postive perspectives that you won’t always find from
the medical community. Talk to other parents, contact local support groups, email me! We have another web
site that’s full of resources for people searching for info at http://www.DownSyndromePages.com
Posted in Adoption April 16th, 2010 by Blog For Down Syndrome | No comments
In a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy, was busily working when a new voice came over the
loud speaker asking for a carry out at register 4. Kurtis was almost finished, and wanted to get
some fresh air, and decided to answer the call.
As he approached the check-out stand a distant smile caught his eye, the new check-out girl
was beautiful, he recognized her as someone he had met in college and he fell in love…. read the
full article
Posted in General January 28th, 2009 by Blog For Down Syndrome | No comments
“Who Belong”
http://www.blogfordownsyndrome.com/ 3/5
5/2/2010 Blog For Down Syndrome
43 years ago on a warm summer evening my parents sent me along with my older brother and
younger sister a few blocks away to the Anderson Avenue trolley stop to meet a man by the name of Henry
Varlack and walk him to our home for dinner. Henry Varlack was a radio announcer on WFLN a classical
radio station in Philadelphia. A seemingly minor task that still stays with me 43 years later. I don’t even know
if my siblings recollect this. I’ll send them this link and see what they say.
We lived in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, at the time an all white suburban community.
My parents message still resonates with me. The gist of it was they wanted us to meet and walk with him not
only to show him where we lived but so people could see that he was with people “who belonged”. I was
too young at the time to entirely grasp that but as I grew older I got it. At that time in America a African
American did not belong in a white suburban community.
This was only one of many instances of how our parents exposed us to inclusivity, diversity and that prejudice
was wrong. A couple years later in 1967 we were living in the heart of urban Philadelphia. What a dynamic
time to be a kid in a major urban center in a country coming out of a civil rights movement into an anti-war
movement. It was’nt all gumdrops and lollipops and we didn’t live perfect idyllic lives but oh what a strange
trip it was …
Today Barack Obama an African American man took the oath of office as the 44th president of the United
States of America. So many American’s laid the groundwork for this to happen. As I watched the
inauguration ceremonies on my computer at work today I was moved by the sea of humanity spread across
the mall. Countless faces “who belonged”. So many historic figures have laid the ground work for this to
come to pass. So did many ordinary Americans including my parents who did their part and I am thankful.
I wish my father had lived to see this historic time come to pass so I could share this with him. I learned from
some googling that Henry Varlack passed away in 2006 at the age of 65. My mother who is going strong up
in New Hampshire is having an inauguration party at her home tonight!! You go girl!!!!
There is so much work to be done so people in the disabilities community can join the “who belong”. People
with disabilities belong in the community as our neighbors, as patrons in our libraries, as customers in our
businesses, in jobs as our co-workers, in schools as classmates. What a great opportunity we have ahead of
us to build on the hard work of those who came before us.
“Teach your children what you believe in. Make a world that we can live in.”
-excerpt from “Teach Your Children”, Crosby Stills Nash Young
Posted in General January 20th, 2009 by Blog For Down Syndrome | 2 comments
Endangered Lives
I’m a fan of great analogies that speak the truth. I came across this article today. Follow the more link to read
the entire piece.
Recently I read an article about how scientists are going to use an outer space satellite to
monitor the kangaroo rat which is an endangered species. The article states: “It allows us to
more quickly recognize whether populations are declining where we want them to exist. “If they
go below a threshold, that is when we would consider intervening.” I have a beautiful five-year-
old daughter Chloe who has Down Syndrome, and she has brought immeasurable good and
light into the world. Because of the refining of and increase in prenatal testing children with
Down Syndrome are also an endangered species with a 90%+ abortion rate once identified in
the womb. Chloe’s unique human species could very well become extinct in another generation
if attitudes are not changed … more
Posted in Eugenics January 20th, 2009 by Blog For Down Syndrome | No comments
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