Being Down syndrome today

Oh so human !

Every individual affected by Down syndrome (trisomy 21) is first and foremost their own person, with their own unique way of living their life.

It’s simple – this third little chromosome changes everything, but it does not affect human qualities. And the similarities are much more dominant than any differences.

Of course, the individual affected by Down syndrome (trisomy 21) has specific difficulties to face that are sometimes severe. However, as with every one of us, the person’s own personality plays a considerable role in the way they cope with Down syndrome (trisomy 21).

If you need to be convinced about this, you just have to spend a day in the Jérôme Lejeune Institute’s specialised consultation waiting room. Every patient is different and unique with their own singular personality.

If you open your heart ever so slightly, you will notice a similarity among all the people with Down syndrome (trisomy 21), namely a gaze that will captivate you, and an intensity that reveals a profusion of feelings and an offered complicity, that requires only your acceptance.

You will encounter all kinds of feelings just like you would anywhere else, with that special trusting spontaneity and real, wholesome feelings of joy, fear, yearning and sadness caused by rejection of misunderstanding.

You will also notice intelligence too, slower probably, but often amazing. It would be unfair if it went unnoticed. These young people performing Molière’s “The Imaginary Invalid” are a fine demonstration of this.

At the end of the day, it’s a difference that makes all the difference. Down syndrome… so what!