Disability
Stories, theology, and cultural commentary related to disability.
She meant well when she asked. "How high-functioning is your daughter?"
I didn't think much of it as I replied, "Oh, she's very high-functioning. Her intelligence is at an age-appropriate level. The developmental delays she experiences are related to motor skills. She can't jump or run very well. She ...
(I've written about this before, but I think it is worth mentioning again.)
It happens all the time. Someone refers to my "Down syndrome child" or says, "They have a child who is Down syndrome," or "She's having a Down's baby." Or I read it in Time magazine or a newspaper article. Before Penny was born, ...
A year ago, I read a book by Michael Berube called Life as we Know It. Berube is a professor of English, and his son Jamie has Down syndrome. His book contains philosophical and practical reflections about Down syndrome in general and about Jamie in particular. In one chapter, Berube discusses the sociology ...
All this talk and information about Down syndrome has left me thinking about language. People struggle (myself included) to know how to talk about Penny. I remember when she was first born and I would say that we had expected a "normal" child, which implied that Penny was abnormal. Then I learned the ...
I have been reflecting more and more about my sense that I know "why" Penny has Down syndrome. I've concluded that I was wrong in much of what I previously thought. In general, we've heard two "reasons" that Penny has this extra chromosome. One is because we, as her parents, need a child who is not ...