World Down Syndrome Day: What Is All About?

Happy World Down Syndrome Day🧦!

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’?

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