Heidi and Aidan's Case to Change UK Abortion Law

As you know, the law in England currently allows you to terminate a baby after 24 weeks, and indeed to moments before they are born, if they are found to have a “serious disability”. Serious disability is not defined by the law and has been interpreted to include Down’s Syndrome. Heidi, a young, capable woman with Down’s Syndrome wrote to you. She has said that she finds the law “deeply offensive” and is launching a legal battle against the government with regards to this. Your Department of Health and Social Care said; “any decision to terminate must rest on the judgement of the women and her doctors”. As I see it, there appears to be two predominant voices within this debate; those who believe it is an issue of women’s choice, and those who believe it is an issue of the human rights of those with disability.

Genocide, DiscriminationAnonymousJune 15, 2020awareness, advocacy, discrimination, law and policyComment

An Entire Community In Mourning

As a member of the Down syndrome community, I’m heartbroken and outraged at the same time. As a mother, I’m scared of the world my children are being raised in. As an individual who cares, I’m pissed off that there isn’t more awareness being made focusing on these three kids. Why are these cases not national news? Why don’t they get the same attention as any other murdered child?

For those reasons, I’m going to share the information I’ve found on two of these cases below (you can find information on Kylee Willis here – Adam Hughes’ preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 19th, 2020. He has been charged with “assault on a child causing death.”) and the link that includes the contact information for those working on each case as well as examples of the letters that you can send if you’d like to reach out and help make a difference.

Discrimination, Advocacy and AwarenessLindsay RobertsonJune 1, 2020Down syndrome, awareness, advocate, discriminationComment

"More Alike Than Different:" What Does it Actually Mean?

There are a lot of different mantras or phrases that come along with the Down syndrome community: "the lucky few," "downright perfect," etc. One of these phrases is "more alike than different."

When Alice was born and someone told me that she will be "more alike than different" and said that she would walk, talk, go to school, etc., it did give me a lot of relief. I was happy that she wouldn't be an outcast.