{"id":397,"date":"2010-10-13T09:17:49","date_gmt":"2010-10-13T09:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/are-children-with-down-syndrome-angels.html"},"modified":"2010-10-13T09:17:49","modified_gmt":"2010-10-13T09:17:49","slug":"are-children-with-down-syndrome-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/are-children-with-down-syndrome-angels.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Children with Down Syndrome Angels?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
<\/a><\/span>\"IMG_4441.JPG\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I hear the positive stereotypes all the time. From
\nrelatives, friends, doctors, teachers, strangers who strike up a conversation
\nin a store. “Down syndrome children are so sweet.” Or, “They are all so cute
\nand happy all the time.” Or, “Down’s kids are angels.”<\/p>\n

It’s nice that Penny happens to have a disability that comes
\nwith positive associations. But the comments still bug me. Whenever I hear
\ngeneralized statements about Down syndrome, I suspect that Penny has been
\noverlooked as an individual and has been lumped together with a nameless,
\nfaceless group. And even though they are positive statements, they are still
\ndivisive ones, still statements that place Penny and other individuals with
\nDown syndrome in a separate category of the population. Finally, I’m not
\nconvinced that it’s true.<\/p>\n

I am inclined to agree that having an extra 21st<\/sup>
\nchromosome brings with it a desire to cuddle. I’m not sure if that desire for
\ncloseness comes from biological or sociological causes, but it’s certainly nice
\nto have a daughter who climbs in my bed in the middle of the night and says, “I
\njust need a hug.” <\/p>\n

And there’s the Biblical definition of angel, which means, “messenger from God.” I could argue that Penny has been God’s most effective messenger in my life yet.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But the popular use of the term angel is more akin to the other statements I listed above: happy all the time, soft and cuddly, sweet and nice. Think Rafael’s cherubs. By that definition, I can attest that Penny is no angel. She cries. Daily. She grabs things from William. She whines and complains and generally acts like a four-year old.<\/p>\n

It might seem odd to try to correct a positive stereotype. I mean, come on, it’s hard enough to confront the negative portrayals. But I think it’s important.<\/p>\n

When Penny was younger, a friend said to me, “Isn’t it nice that Penny won’t ever know that people see her as different?” She must have seen the confusion on my face, because then she said, “I mean, Downs kids are just so happy all the time. Penny won’t care<\/i> when people see her as different.” I happened to have read a study earlier that week about the incidence of depression<\/a> in young adults and adults with disabilities, including Down syndrome. Another more recent report said that people with disabilities long for friends more than almost anything else. Penny will know that people think she’s different. She’ll be upset if other kids make fun of her. She will feel sad if she’s excluded.<\/p>\n

In response to my friend, I said, “From what I understand, people with Down syndrome can feel sadness just like the rest of us.”<\/p>\n

So is my daughter an angel? No. She’s a lovely little girl who often wants to help others in need and shows lots of affection and gets nervous around scarecrows and witches and feels sad when her dad isn’t home to say goodnight. She’s just another kid, working out what it means to be human. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hear the positive stereotypes all the time. From relatives, friends, doctors, teachers, strangers who strike up a conversation in a store. “Down syndrome children are so sweet.” Or, “They are all so cute and happy all the time.” Or, “Down’s kids are angels.” It’s nice that Penny happens to have a disability that comes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disability","category-down-syndrome","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Children with Down Syndrome Angels? - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/10\/are-children-with-down-syndrome-angels.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Children with Down Syndrome Angels? - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I hear the positive stereotypes all the time. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}