Facebook Allowed My Son to Make History

Posted: 11/29/2013 11:11 am
Caroline White.
Campaigns to raise awareness of Down's Syndrome in an effort to banish outdated stereotypes that still exist about the condition



When my first baby was born and we were told he had Down's syndrome, I was shocked to my core. I knew nothing about the condition and was absolutely gripped with fear of our future and the unknown. What should have been the happiest day of my life was the worst.

I imagined a lifetime of "difference" and exclusion. I had never known anyone with Down's syndrome and I worried about our future and how we would cope.

To gain some control, I threw myself into research and read about all of the characteristics and possible health problems we might face. Every time I looked at my baby, I saw "Down's syndrome." It was a tough and confusing time. I was never in doubt that I loved my baby, but the information overload was both daunting and exhausting.

Bit by bit, the hurt began to lift as I fell in love with Seb. He smiled, he cried, he laughed, he rolled, he walked and he talked, just in his own time. Before long I realized that he was an individual, not a syndrome or a list of characteristics in a text book, and his likes and dislikes and his personality reflected us as a family, not other people with Down's syndrome.