America and Special Needs

I watched a video on YouTube about a person with Down Syndrome from that ABC show "What Would You Do?". The general gist of it was that a person with Down Syndrome was hired to be a grocer (the people who bag groceries) by ABC (and apparently he's appeared in movies and shows such as Sesame Street) and the woman who was the antagonist was also an actress hired by ABC. Anyway the actress was criticizing the Down Syndrome grocer and there were some people who were ignoring the incident. That really pissed me off because my small brother had a brain tumor at four years old and had to have surgery and now has a full shun plate in his head and is in Speech Therapy. So I guess you could say my brother is special needs. People being oppressed really pisses me off. People do not understand what it is like for special needs children/adults and think they are invulnerable from harm or even death. Especially when you are a teenager you think nothing can stop you and that your invincible. That isn't the case. You could get in a car crash tomorrow and become a cripple or even die. I don't know if people even understand Down Syndrome so I'll give you all some information on the subject: The most widely recognized syndrome is Down syndrome, also known as Trisomy 21. The individual with this syndrome has 47, rather than 46 chromosomes. On chromosme 21, there is an extra chromosome, hence the term Trisomy 21. Usually the extra chromosome is contributed to the egg, but in about 25 percent of cases it comes from the sperm. Trisomy 21 occurs in approximately one in 700 births. The risk for a woman aged 20 is 1 to 2,000 births and increases in women over 45 years of age to 1 in 20 births. The physical stigmata that make Down syndrome readily recognizable include:

• small round head, flattened in the back
• profile characterized by a flat midface
• curving skin folds at the inner corners of the eyes
• small ears
• short stature
• short fingers with little fingers curving inward
• simian crease on the palms of one or both hands

About 50 percent of children with Down syndrome have congenital defects. Heart and intestinal abnormalities, often life-threatening, are common. Hearing impairments owing to frequent ear infections (otitis media) also are prevalent. Cognitive delays, ranging from mild to severe, typically become apparent as the child ages. Do people realize that half the children who are aborted in the USA were diagnosed with Down Syndrome? By being biased towards people with special needs we are teaching our children that it is okay to hate people because of a disability. We as a society are not worth being in existence if we have people who think they are better than everyone else because in truth we all have hidden faults, whether we realize it or not. At birth I was in the hospital for seven months due to being born at 24 weeks gestation. I had underdeveloped lungs, weighed 1 lb. 14 oz. at birth, and had to have open heart surgery when I was born in order to close a heart valve and yes I will always have the scar from the surgery. My doctors feared I would not make it and I had to be on an apnea monitor for a while as a baby in case I stopped breathing. As a child I had a speech problem so I was in speech therapy most of my school years and from 3rd-begining of 6th grade I was in Occupational therapy and in Physical therapy. As a child growing up I had a math tutor in 5th grade and then in the middle of 6th grade I was put into resource math (aka special ed math) because I was diagnosed with having a 5th grade math level. I know what it is like to have to struggle with a disabilty even if it is not physical and I know what it is like to feel like an outcast by your fellow peers and sometimes even your own family. When half of the children aborted are classified as having Down syndrome or some other special need what does that say about us as a nation, as society, as parents? Do people not remember the countless number of disabled people who were killed at the hands of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party during the Third Reich? Just because a person is special needs does not mean that they cannot contribute to society or lead a normal life. I find it disheartening to think that there are still people in the world who act like they are better than everybody else because they don't have a physical disability. Do not think that you will remain "perfect" forever. Nobody is perfect. Your entire life could change in an instant from a car crash or a drive by shooting or a robbery. Just remember that the next time you see a disabled person or someone with special needs.