People with Down syndrome and other medical diagnoses should
always be referred to as people first
. Instead of describing someone as “a Down syndrome child,” it should be “a child with Down syndrome.” This is called “person first” language and takes care to put the emphasis on a person, not a disability.
How do you reference Down syndrome?
People with Down syndrome and other medical diagnoses should
always be referred to as people first
. Instead of describing someone as “a Down syndrome child,” it should be “a child with Down syndrome.” This is called “person first” language and takes care to put the emphasis on a person, not a disability.
What exactly is Down syndrome?
Down syndrome is a
condition in which a person has an extra chromosome
. Chromosomes are small “packages” of genes in the body. They determine how a baby’s body forms and functions as it grows during pregnancy and after birth. Typically, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes.
What causes Down’s syndrome?
About 95 percent of the time, Down syndrome is caused by
trisomy 21
— the person has three copies of chromosome 21, instead of the usual two copies, in all cells. This is caused by abnormal cell division during the development of the sperm cell or the egg cell.
What are the three types of Down syndrome?
- Trisomy 21. This is by far the most common type, where every cell in the body has three copies of chromosome 21 instead of two.
- Translocation Down syndrome. In this type, each cell has part of an extra chromosome 21, or an entirely extra one. …
- Mosaic Down syndrome.
Is it OK to say someone has Down syndrome?
People with Down syndrome should always be referred to as people first
. Instead of “a Down syndrome child,” it should be “a child with Down syndrome.” Also avoid “Down’s child” and describing the condition as “Down’s,” as in, “He has Down’s.” Down syndrome is a condition or a syndrome, not a disease.
What is life expectancy for Down syndrome?
Over 6,000 babies are born with Down syndrome in the United States each year. As recently as 1983, a person with Down syndrome lived to be only 25 years old on average. Today, the average life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome is
nearly 60 years and continuing to climb
.
Can a child with Down syndrome look normal?
People with
Down syndrome all look the same
. There are certain physical characteristics that can occur. People with Down syndrome can have all of them or none. A person with Down syndrome will always look more like his or her close family than someone else with the condition.
Can you tell if baby has Down syndrome in ultrasound?
An ultrasound can detect fluid at the back of a fetus’s neck
, which sometimes indicates Down syndrome. The ultrasound test is called measurement of nuchal translucency. During the first trimester, this combined method results in more effective or comparable detection rates than methods used during the second trimester.
Is Down syndrome a disability?
Down’s syndrome is
the commonest identifiable cause of intellectual disability
, accounting for around 15-20% of the intellectually disabled population. It is believed that people with Down’s syndrome have always existed.
Can Down syndrome be cured?
No. Down syndrome is a lifelong condition and
right now there isn’t a cure
. But many health problems associated with the condition are treatable.
Can stress cause Down syndrome?
Down syndrome, which arises from a
chromosome defect
, is likely to have a direct link with the increase in stress levels seen in couples during the time of conception, say Surekha Ramachandran, founder of Down Syndrome Federation of India, who has been studying about the same ever since her daughter was diagnosed with …
Can Down syndrome people have kids?
Misconception: People who have Down syndrome cannot have children. Reality: It’s true that a person with Down syndrome may have significant challenges in rearing a child. But
women who have Down syndrome are fertile and can give birth to children
.
What are the symptoms of Down syndrome in pregnancy?
- Flat face with an upward slant to the eyes.
- Short neck.
- Abnormally shaped or small ears.
- Protruding tongue.
- Small head.
- Deep crease in the palm of the hand with relatively short fingers.
- White spots in the iris of the eye.
At what age does Down syndrome appear?
It is determined by many factors, but research suggests that there is a higher chance if the mother is older than 35 years of age. Before the age of
30
, Down syndrome occurs in fewer than 1 in 1,000 pregnancies. After the age of 40, this figure rises to about 12 in 1,000.
What does mild Down syndrome look like?
A flattened face — especially across the nose — and upward-slanted, almond-shaped eyes
are two of the common physical features of Down syndrome. Some of the other common physical characteristics include a short neck, small hands and feet, small stature, and a lack of muscle tone.
