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World Down Syndrome Day: What Is All About?

MyNameIsNicole March 21st, 2022

Happy World Down Syndrome Day🧦!

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Hello everyone, today is World Down Syndrome Day and the Disability Support is happy to celebrate with you in hopes of spreading awareness about Down Syndrome!

In this post, you will find out all about Down Syndrome and what we celebrate this day.

What is Down Syndrome?

Down Syndrome is a genetic condition in which a person is born with an extra chromosome.

Chromosomes contain genes, they determine how a baby's body forms and develops during pregnancy and after birth.

Typically a baby is born with 46 chromosomes, people with Down Syndrome have an extra copy of one of these chromosomes called chromosome 21. The medical term for having an extra copy of a chromosome is known as trisomy.

Even though people with Down Syndrome might act and look similar, every person's abilities are different.

How common is Down Syndrome?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one in every 700 babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome, making Down syndrome the most common chromosomal condition! About 6,000 babies with Down syndrome are born in the United States each year.


Are there different types of Down Syndrome?

Some people might not know this, but there are three types of Down Syndrome. Here's a brief summary;

  • Trisomy 21 (Nondisjunction):

Nondisjunction occurs when there is an error in cell division. This occurs when an embryo has three copies of chromosome 21 instead of the usual two. This is the most popular type of Down Syndrome with about 95% of cases!

  • Mosaic Down Syndrome

Mosaic Down Syndrome occurs when there is a mixture of two types of cells, some containing the usual 46, and some containing 47 because of the extra chromosome 21. This is the rarest kind with only 2% of cases.

Although there cannot be broad generalizations to the diverse range of abilities people with Down Syndrome have, people with mosaicism may have fewer characteristics than those with the other types.


  • Translocation Down Syndrome: This type accounts for a small percentage of people with Down syndrome (about 3%). This occurs when an extra part or a whole extra chromosome 21 is present, but it is attached to a different chromosome rather than being a separate chromosome 21.


To read more about the types of down syndrome, head over to the CDC website. If you’re more of an auditory learner, you can watch this video on YouTube that explains everything by clicking HERE.


What do we celebrate on World Down Syndrome Day?

World Down Syndrome is a day marked as a global initiative to increase awareness about the genetic disorder. It’s a day to recognize people living with down syndrome, and realize that they deserve equal rights and respect just like everybody else.


The theme of World Down Syndrome this year is ‘’Inclusion Means’’. It advocates for efforts to be made to ensure inclusion of people with Down Syndrome in all aspects of life and to not discriminate against them.

Globaldownsyndrome.org created a positive and educative video that explains what this international day is about, and to remind us how amazing people with down syndrome are. Watch the video here.


In Summary… We Know That:

  • Down Syndrome is a genetic condition in which a person is born with an extra chromosome.

  • There are three types of down syndrome.

  • World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated every year on the 21st of March for the advocacy of equal rights for people with down syndrome.

  • Lots of Socks is an awareness campaign for down syndrome, as chromosomes kind of look like socks and people with down syndrome have an extra one.


I hope you learned a little bit more about down syndrome, have a wonderful day educating someone about this and don’t forget to rock your socks! (not just any sock, brightly coloured socks, mismatched socks, l-o-n-g socks,𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 socks, and maybe even three socks!)

Read the masterpost for this event here. Turn up at 3pm est for a discussion for this event in the Disability Support Room for Teens with @MyNameIsNicole on the 22nd of March :)

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Ice-breaker: How many times did you spot the word ‘chromosome’?


Please fill out THIS FORM to receive a seasonal badge for your participation (:

See other March Events happening HERE

If you'd like to join the disability support team, check out this POST


16
audienta March 24th, 2022

@MyNameIsNicole

Hey Nicole

Thank you for this really interesting post!!! I think there were 13 "chromosome"s in there?

Take care

audienta

5 replies
MyNameIsNicole OP March 24th, 2022

@audienta

I'm happy you enjoyed reading, I actually don't know the number myself haha

But I counted 10❤️

4 replies
audienta March 24th, 2022

@MyNameIsNicole

I recounted and now I found 14 xD

3 replies
wonderfulRainbow817 March 25th, 2022

@audienta, I got 14 too! The last one in the bottom of the post hid from me the first time I counted.

2 replies
audienta March 25th, 2022

@wonderfulRainbow817 yay! 😊 congrats to both of us!

MyNameIsNicole OP March 25th, 2022

@wonderfulRainbow817 and @audienta guess you guys won this round haha!

I didn't even count it properly. Thank you for participating❤️

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MyNameIsNicole OP March 24th, 2022

@MyNameIsNicole

Read the next post for this event by clicking here.

Katharsis22 March 25th, 2022

^^That was quite informative. Thank you for preparing this to spread awareness about this syndrome.

2 replies
MyNameIsNicole OP March 25th, 2022

@Katharsis22

You're welcome, thank you for reading and I'm glad you gained something from this☺️❤️

1 reply
Katharsis22 March 25th, 2022

@MyNameIsNicole

All thanks to you.☆

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purpleTree4652 March 25th, 2022

@MyNameIsNicole,

I don't know.

1 reply
MyNameIsNicole OP March 25th, 2022

@purpleTree4652

Hi, I'm sorry what don't you know?

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March 25th, 2022

Thank you so much @MyNameIsNicole for this amazing post! Very informative, thank you for teaching me something new today ☺️

1 reply
MyNameIsNicole OP March 25th, 2022

@kindCloud141

Anytime, super glad you learnt something!

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nessa104 March 25th, 2022

Hi @MyNameIsNicole

This is an awesome post, it is the best thing I have seen today. 🌱

I'm so happy that you are spreading awareness about it ❤

It is so well explained and videos too.

Chromosome count - 14🤭

Thank you for sharing this 🙃


1 reply
MyNameIsNicole OP March 25th, 2022

@nessa104

aww that's so sweet of you to say, many thanks!

sooo happy you learned something and it was easy to understand, yes the chromosome count is correct well done!

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