26th October Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Some Statistics…for you. Two babies with Down syndrome are born every day in the UK. Around one in every 1,000 babies born will have Down syndrome. There are 60,000 people in the UK with the condition. Although the individual chance of a baby having Down syndrome is higher for older mothers, more babies with Down syndrome are born to younger women, reflecting the higher birth rate in this group. Down syndrome is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in a baby’s cells. It occurs by chance at conception and is irreversible. Down syndrome is not a disease. People with Down syndrome are not ill and do not “suffer” from the condition. All people with the syndrome will have a varying degree of learning difficulty. However, the majority of people with Down syndrome will walk and talk and many will read and write, go to ordinary schools and lead fulfilling, semi-independent lives. Today, with the right support, people with Down syndrome can enjoy a life of sixty years plus.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 20:48:49 +0000
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