31 for 21: How I got here

I have no children with Down syndrome.   I don't really know anyone personally with it.  So how did I get involved in this?

Down syndrome really first entered my consciousness during  the 2008 elections, with Trig Palin.

Then my daughters introduced me to the show Glee, which features characters with Down syndrome and other disabilities.

My youngest child was born a few months before I turned 41.  The possibility of Down syndrome was very real, and my husband and I discussed at length what the implications would be for our family.  We realized that, with everything we knew at that point, that we would not abort a child with Down syndrome.  As it turned out, he was born with 46 chromosomes, but the idea that a child with a disability would not be a tragedy was planted.

In January of 2012 I was taking a seminar through Landmark Education, which challenged participants to think of "something big enough to be worth your life being about".  Without thinking much, I put down the first thing that popped into my mind: "Making a difference for children with Down syndrome."  I promptly forgot about this when I got home.  But after that week's episode of Glee, I did in fact start Googling for Down syndrome volunteering opportunities, and found a program through Children's Hospital Boston, which I contacted.

I also found this video and this blog.  The ABC feature was very recent at that time.  Likewise, Katie Musser had just come home a few weeks earlier, and it was not at all clear that she would even survive.  Here is her full story since then.  It is rather long, but since I have been following it -- Susanna Musser writes exquisitely! -- this has had the most impact on my feelings about special needs adoption. Please read her story -- it is fascinating!

This past summer, I took another Landmark Education program, which challenged me to take an issue of importance to me and make an impact in the community around it.  And here I am.


Oh, and please sponsor my family in this Sunday's Down syndrome Buddy Walk!  Thanks!!!