Making a difference

As individuals and as communities, there are many ways we can help make a difference for each person with Down syndrome.

Nurturing individual potential

Every one of us is a unique result of nature and nurture, and individuals with Down syndrome are no different.
Recognising the unique challenges facing individuals with Down syndrome creates the opportunity to provide supportive and stimulating opportunities, not an excuse to deny them.
Despite some common medical and developmental difficulties, no two individuals with Down syndrome are alike: hopes and ambitions, likes and dislikes, abilities and disabilities vary widely from person to person.

Every one of us needs encouragement and support to achieve our potential.
From families, friends and local communities, to social and political policy and cultural attitudes, every aspect of our environment makes a difference.

As with every child, the family of a child with Down syndrome plays the most significant role in their development through infancy and childhood, and throughout their adult lives.
Every family deserves emotional support, up-to-date information and practical guidance to help them provide the best for their child.

Every child with Down syndrome has a right to full and welcoming access to community life and local services.
Participation through societies, clubs, and as fully included members of their local schools, offers children with Down syndrome the same opportunities for social development as any other child.
Inclusion in the workplace and access to leisure pursuits offer adults with Down syndrome the chance for a rewarding and varied life.

Every individual with Down syndrome deserves informed, preventative healthcare, and the same medical practices and treatments as anyone else.
Quality physiotherapy and speech and language therapy from early in life, pre-school intervention programmes and informed education provision can ensure that children with Down syndrome are offered every chance to reach their full potential.
Ending institutionalisation, discriminatory healthcare practices, prejudice and community exclusion depend on social, political and cultural support.
Access to appropriate employment, supported living in the community, and continued social and health care throughout life require the backing of employers, colleagues, policy-makers and service providers.

Although significant social change has begun to occur for individuals with Down syndrome in some societies, the outlook is not so bright throughout the world.
In many societies, children with Down syndrome are abandoned in institutions and receive little medical care, often dying young as a result.
Spreading information and changing social perceptions in these societies is a key task over the coming decades.