First ob­served in 2006 by Down Syn­drome In­ter­na­tion­al, March 21 was of­fi­cial­ly de­clared World Down Syn­drome Day by the Unit­ed Na­tions Gen­er­al As­sem­bly in 2011.

March 21, or 3-21, is a sym­bol­ic date to cel­e­brate peo­ple with Down syn­drome and those who live and work with them through­out the world. The date, 3-21 rep­re­sents Tri­somy 21, the med­ical term for Down syn­drome, which is the third repli­ca­tion of the 21st chro­mo­some.

The 2023 theme is “With Us Not For Us” is key to a hu­man rights-based ap­proach to dis­abil­i­ty. This year’s theme re­in­forces this val­ue of fair­ness and the right of per­sons with Down syn­drome and oth­er dis­abil­i­ties to be in­clud­ed when mak­ing de­ci­sions about their fu­ture. It en­cour­ages peo­ple to treat those hav­ing Down Syn­drome with re­spect and fair­ness. When you show sup­port, you are not do­ing things for them, but with them; and are con­sid­er­ate of their choic­es when mak­ing de­ci­sions.

Down Syn­drome Fam­i­ly Net­work – Ed­u­ca­tion is Key

“We have sev­er­al in­ter­na­tion­al ex­am­ples of the suc­cess­es and achieve­ments of per­sons with Down syn­drome and oth­er in­tel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties, once they are giv­en the op­por­tu­ni­ty to show their po­ten­tial. How­ev­er, here at home, we call them spe­cial, treat them spe­cial and as­sume they can on­ly BE spe­cial. We dis­crim­i­nate and de­ny them their ba­sic hu­man rights, be­cause WE de­cide they don’t need those rights,” Chair­man and Founder of the Down Syn­drome Fam­i­ly Net­work (DSFN) Glen Niles said.

“This is the re­sult of us bask­ing in the ig­no­rance of our aca­d­e­m­ic qual­i­fi­ca­tions that pro­hib­it us from crit­i­cal think­ing with a so­lu­tion ori­en­ta­tion. In­stead, all we can elo­quent­ly es­pouse are ex­cus­es [of] why we are un­able to tran­si­tion to a more in­clu­sive so­ci­ety for per­sons with dis­abil­i­ties, and not how we can make true in­clu­sion hap­pen.”

Through the lens of Par­ents

“As a par­ent of a daugh­ter with Down syn­drome, I have the same hopes, dreams and as­pi­ra­tion for my daugh­ter as I do for my oth­er chil­dren who do not have the same di­ag­no­sis,” shared Sarah Soell, the ex­ec­u­tive di­rec­tor of the Down Syn­drome As­so­ci­a­tion, US and a moth­er of a child with Down syn­drome.

“I have come to re­alise, a life lived in­de­pen­dent­ly is not out of reach: school, a job, friends, even a life part­ner. Re­gard­less of her in­tel­lec­tu­al ca­pac­i­ty, she has the same hu­man needs for con­nec­tion, self-ex­pres­sion and liv­ing with pur­pose as every­one else. I see her fu­ture as very bright, one where she is hap­py do­ing what­ev­er it is she loves to do. And isn’t that what every moth­er wants for her child?” pas­sion­ate­ly shared by Sarah.

Like most chil­dren, any child with Down syn­drome tends to do well with rou­tine. They al­so re­spond bet­ter to pos­i­tive sup­port than dis­ci­pline. Keep both of those things in mind as you try the fol­low­ing tips.

Do all the run-of-the-mill ac­tiv­i­ties with your child:

• ↓Keep your ex­pec­ta­tions high as your child tries and learns new things.

• ↓Give your child chores around the house. Just break them up in­to small steps and be pa­tient.

• ↓Have your child play with oth­er kids who do and don’t have Down syn­drome.

• ↓Make time to play, read, have fun and go out to­geth­er.

• ↓Sup­port your child in do­ing day-to-day tasks on their own.

For every­day tasks:

• ↓Cre­ate a dai­ly rou­tine and stick to it as best you can. For ex­am­ple, the morn­ing might be “get up / eat break­fast / brush teeth / get dressed.”

• ↓Help your child change from one ac­tiv­i­ty to the next with very clear sig­nals. For younger kids, see­ing a pic­ture or singing a song can help.

• ↓Use pic­tures to make a dai­ly sched­ule your child can see.

Give Your Child Some Con­trol

It’s im­por­tant for all kids to feel like they have some con­trol over their lives. It’s even more im­por­tant for chil­dren with Down syn­drome, and it’s one way to help them live a ful­fill­ing life. For ex­am­ple, you can:

• ↓Let your child make choic­es when it makes sense to. This can be as sim­ple as let­ting them choose what clothes to wear.

• ↓Al­low them to take rea­son­able risks. This is a chal­lenge every par­ent faces. You need to pro­tect your chil­dren, but al­so let them see what they can han­dle.

• ↓Sup­port them in solv­ing prob­lems, like how to deal with an is­sue with friends or ap­proach a prob­lem at school. You don’t have to fix it for them, but help them do it them­selves.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Mat­ters

• ↓Avoid say­ing “That’s wrong” to cor­rect mis­takes. In­stead, say, “Try it again.” Of­fer help if it’s need­ed.

• ↓Work with doc­tors, ther­a­pists, and teach­ers, fo­cus on your child’s needs rather than on the con­di­tion.

• ↓Look at what your child is learn­ing at school and see if you can work those lessons in­to your home life.

• ↓When you talk to your child, keep it sim­ple - the few­er steps, the bet­ter. For ex­am­ple, try “Please put your pa­ja­mas on,” in­stead of “OK, it’s time for bed. Let’s get your teeth brushed, face washed, pa­ja­mas on, and pick out some books.”

• ↓Have your child re­peat di­rec­tions back to you so you know you’ve been un­der­stood. Name and talk about things your child seems to get ex­cit­ed about.