Lion and Magic Boy

WARNING: I may reveal some of my beliefs in how life and the Universe works here. You needn’t agree.

1. “They’re so HAPPY all the time!”

I’m cringing now, because I actually SAID this to the mom of a girl in Nathaniel’s 2nd grade class who had been with him since kindergarten. And this happened AFTER Eric was born, even, but in my defense, it was when he was still in Survival Shutdown Mode, since he was tiny and weak and barely there and I hadn’t yet a clue as to his true personality.

So this mom, having probably answered this 400 times before, simply said, “No, she gets frustrated sometimes” while at the same time looking at me like I had just grown a second head: Don’t you GET IT??

I can answer, in all certainty, that people with Down syndrome are most assuredly NOT happy all the time, Eric being my prime example.

BUT…….I can also say that it is my experience that people with Down syndrome, Eric specifically, seem to make life choices and personality choices that allow them to not dwell on things and to instead see the good in people and in life.

In short, they Get Over It.

A good lesson for everyone to take home, yes?

2. “They’re so friendly!”

Well, yes, sort of. It depends. Some people are friendly, some aren’t as friendly. Some of ALL people. But those with Down syndrome? Again, I’m generalizing here, but in my experience, people with Down syndrome ALSO seem to have made personality choices and to have chosen life goals that make them more likely to be relatively engaging toward other people.

This is most certainly the case with Eric. He hugs more people previously unknown to him in a typical day than I do in six months. And I get the impression that much of his life is going to be about his interaction with others.

3. “They’re not very, uh, smart, are they? Trainable, yes, oh, and YOU’VE done so much with him, I can see, but smart? (in a whisper): they’re not like US, are they? ”

Well. this will likely be a controversial answer.

Eric is tremendously smart. I say this not only because I am his mother, but because, well, he IS. But his sort of smart? It’s true, it IS different. And Eric and other people like him? Well, they ARE rather unto themselves, aren’t they? It’s more, I think, than the extra chromosome, it’s undefinable, yet, at least to me. And the purpose of this difference? I haven’t got that one yet either.

But with all these differences that set these extraordinary people apart, there are also zillions of things that are the same as everyone else:

People with Down syndrome feel pain (can you believe I’ve been asked that one?)

People with Down syndrome have feelings

People with Down syndrome love

People with Down syndrome breathe

People with Down syndrome have an extraordinary gift.

I rather think it’s up to the REST of us to figure out what that is.