The Portrayal Of People With Down Syndrome

Jon Owens was born on March 1, 1960. Jon’s parents feared of having a child with mental retardation. Jon family members are mom is a psychotherapist and dad is a psychiatrist. Jon had two sisters Jennifer and Jennice and a brother Charlton. Jennifer is a filmmaker. Jennifer says Jon is a spiritual teacher. Jennice is a keynote speaker. Charlton is a lawyer and doctor. When Jon was born, a pedestrian told his parents he would never reach age 5. Jon’s parents spoke with a fellow friend and doctor who had brother with Downs’s syndrome. The family friend expressed the grief of putting brother in an institution and how it ruined his family lives. Jon’s parents thought it would best to put him in nursing home. Jon was in a crib all his life. Jon lived in a nursing home for 6 ½ years until his caregiver died. Jon’s parents had received a call to make decisions on Jon’s care. Jon was diagnosed with having Down’s syndrome. Jon was more than a little slow, but mentally retarded. Jon had limited intellectual and physical abilities.

Jon Owens was born on March 1, 1960. Jon’s parents feared of having a child with mental retardation. Jon family members are, mom is a psychotherapist and dad is a psychiatrist. Jon had two sisters Jennifer and Jennice and a brother Charlton. Jennifer is a filmmaker. Jennifer says Jon is a spiritual teacher. Jennice is a keynote speaker. Charlton is a lawyer and a doctor. When Jon was born, a pedestrian told his parents he would never reach age 5. Jon’s parents spoke with a fellow friend and doctor who had a brother with Downs’s syndrome. The family friend expressed the grief of putting brother in an institution and how it ruined his family lives. Jon’s parents thought it would best to put him in a nursing home. Jon was in a crib all his life. Jon lived in a nursing home for 6 ½ years until his caregiver died. Jon’s parents had received a call to make decisions about Jon’s care. Jon was diagnosed with having Down’s syndrome. Jon was more than a little slow, but mentally retarded. Jon had limited intellectual and physical abilities.

The topic in regards to the disabled worker is of interest to the author. The commentary is titled “Accommodation for Disabled Workers: Knowledge of Rights a Good Start” at the Rand Corporation blog by author Kathleen Mullen. The article describes how employees quitting their jobs because of healthcare decline and applying for social security benefits. As a number of social security benefits increase it puts US funding at risk. The author knows several disabled workers that are faced with working with a health-related disability. Additionally, they are challenged to take care of their families in spite of their disability. The disabled subgroup often expresses that they feel misunderstood by the world. The disabled person is betwixt and in between.; society expects the

In 1973 the section 504 rehabilitation act banned discrimination on people with disabilities. “For the first time, the exclusion and segregation of people with disabilities was viewed as discrimination” (Mayerson). People thought that people with disabilities that were unemployed and uneducated was “inevitable” (Mayerson). People fighting for the disabled proved that this was wrong and needed to be changed. The Americans with Disabilities act changed nothing for the employment for them, and by 2018 people with disabilities were still getting wages 40 percent below a “healthy person’s” (Picker). But, despite some unchanged discrimination the fixing of the equality between the disabled and nondisabled, right now, is that the Americans

What comes into one’s mind when they think of a disabled person? Most people feel pity and embarrassment, and feel these disabled people are nothing but useless. In “Disability,” writer Nancy Mairs discusses the experience of being a disabled person in a world focused on strong and healthy people. The danger in this single story is that people with disabilities are discriminated against and put away with forgotten care. Mairs states, how debilitated individuals are continually barred, particularly from the media. People with disabilities are the same as the average American person, but because they are disabled, they are seen as meaningless human beings and

Individuals with developmental disabilities face many problem in our society due to our low expectations that we have for them. Yes they do have problems, but just like everyone else they have their strengths and weaknesses. There may be things that I’m not good at, but I still have the ability to find a good paying job that involves my strengths. By looking at the two essays, For Hire: Dedicated Young Man With Down Syndrome and An Inside View of Autism I was able to see how much our society discriminates against their unique features. We should focus on each person’s strengths rather then generalizing about all individuals with developmental disabilities.

However according to the World Health Organisation (2011) disabled people in Canada and around the world still continue to face discrimination in different aspects of life such as in employment and access of resources. The undertone of this report is that despite the capabilities that persons with disabilities have, they are still regarded as less of other human beings. According to Jansson, Jansenberger, and Phillips (2012), their disability becomes their defining

The comparison of Louise and Marie displays the importance of giving every child a chance to live, unless the baby was conceived because of rape or it puts the mother’s health in jeopardy. Despite disabled children requiring more attention, they’re capable of changing your life for the better. Although only 15% of the world’s population is disabled, people with disabilities are mistreated, misunderstood and underestimated. Therefore, people should be more informed about the impact of those with disabilities.

One of the barriers expressed by 61.6 % of businesses surveyed by the US DOL is the “actual cost of accommodating disability” (“Survey of employer perspectives”, 2008, p. 12). In order to better understand how people with disabilities are viewed by their peers I will create a survey which will ask responders to voice their feedback on what they believe prevents people with disabilities from engaging in the workforce. The survey will also cover stereotypes which the responder can agree or disagree with.

It concludes with ‘Invest in Disabilities’ in terms of ‘Grow Your Own’. It further highlights the consequences of the historic medical model of disability, whereby many persons with disabilities leave the education system poorly equipped to join the workplace. The core aim of the article is to encourage organisations to identify learners leaving the schooling system, bridge the skills gap, leveraging the learned skills through employment and the benefit on an organisations Skills Development

The question of if it matters how and when a person became disabled also comes out in Amos Yong’s “Resurrecting Down Syndrome and Disability.” Yong argues those

Across the nation employment rates are holding steady for individuals with intellectual disabilities and no progress is being made to increase those percentages. Disability employee opportunities are not fair and lacking equity. The problem is that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have a difficult time trying to receive employment opportunities. There are numerous factors that attribute to the cause of this issue, which include individuals with disabilities can only attain lower wage jobs, discrimination in the workplace, and their lack of a standardized education across the nation.

I chose to read the autobiography by Jason Kingsley and Mitchell Levitz called Count on us, growing up with Down syndrome. My own educational background tells me that Down syndrome occurs to a person when they have an extra twenty-first chromosome expressed in their gene sequence. The extra chromosome can cause muscles to not fully develop along with degraded mental capacity. Down syndrome is usually diagnosed at birth and in the case of Jason and Mitchell it was. There was and still is a negative stigma with Down syndrome but do to recent legislation and stories like this autobiography, we are more aware of how people can still function and have a high quality of life with this disability.

For my final reflective response of the term I have chosen to focus on the writing of G. Thomas Couser. The article written by Couser is titled, “Disability, Life Narrative, and Representation”. Couser focuses on the narrative of disability within a social cultural context. He focuses upon the ability of the disability community to re-write their story from their own point of view. I will focus on the importance of the disability community to own their stories, and share them.

Peter, a boy diagnosed with Down Syndrome, was first seen filmed as a third-grader entering his first year in a general classroom rather than one with only students with disabilities. “Educating Peter,” was a film made in 1992 following Peter’s journey being the first child with a severe mental disability, to be included in a general classroom at his elementary school. Elementary school was a challenge for Peter, his parents and his teachers. However, as Peter continues to get older, the film “Graduating Peter,” showcases the story of Peter’s academic accomplishments and struggles as he prepares to graduate from high school. A particular part of the video that stood out to me was when Peter’s mother talked about the loss of control she