What I Learned About Down Syndrome

Pictured: John Langdon Down
Photo credit: NIH

By Kaitlyn Weberg

At age 14 I learned I liked working with people who have disabilities. I learned this about myself when I was in PE. We had the opportunity to work with kids with disabilities. We would assist them with exercises, activities, and games such as dodgeball and relay races. We would also have dance parties. During the dance parties, the teacher would put on a song such as “Cupid Shuffle,” or a similar song that tells you what to do. (“Put your right foot in, put your right foot out…”). After dancing, we would all go play the game of the day. Dancing is an excellent way to get the kids moving and get everyone’s energy up. When the opportunity came up to do a project on Down Syndrome, I was very excited. The project, a poster for my biology class, would include information about World Down Syndrome Day, Mattel’s first Down Syndrome Barbie Doll, and John Langdon Down, credited with describing the first case of Down Syndrome. 

Dr. Rick Rader, Editor-in-Chief of this fine publication, is the Director of the Habilitation Center at the Orange Grove Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. One of the individuals at the center is Tyler. He has Down Syndrome and was inspiring to learn about because he was on the Special Olympics swimming team, had a job at Orange Grove, and would dress up as Gene Simmons of the famous rock band KISS for the annual Orange Grove talent show. This is inspiring to me because, despite his challenges, he has long been an active member of the community, until his recent diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Today he continues to go out and cheer for his old teammates on the Special Olympics swim team. As a person, Tyler is very inspirational, but as a swimmer myself I hold his story especially close to my heart.

Pictured: Adoration of the Christ Child Gerard Van Honthorst by Wayne Moran
Photo Credit: Fine Art America

“An interesting fact about Down Syndrome is that it was depicted as early as 1515 in the painting “Adoration of Christ Child” by Gerard van Honthorst. So, while Down Syndrome has long been known as an ailment to people, it wasn’t until John Langdon Down described the characteristics of the condition in his 1866 publication “Observations on the Ethnic Classification of Idiots” where he discussed his theory about classifying different types of conditions by ethnic characteristics. “

This included most popularly the classifications of the Mongolian idiot and Ethiopian idiot, the former becoming more famously known as Down Syndrome, named for him. These original classifications have now stopped being used due to criticism about the racist implication in the title. Down Syndrome is found in all human populations and similar conditions are found in other species, such as chimpanzees. However, the first man to discover what causes Down Syndrome was Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune, who found that there is an extra chromosome on the 21st pair. He made this discovery in 1958 and The French Academy of Sciences published the findings on January 26, 1959. While it has been discovered that the extra chromosome on the 21st pair is what causes Down Syndrome, there are no known environmental factors that contribute to the occurrence of Down Syndrome.

Pictured: Down Syndrome Barbie

Mattel has recently released a new Barbie Doll that has Down Syndrome. This doll is a major sign of social and cultural inclusion. The social aspect is that kids growing up in today’s world, playing at home with their Barbies, are able to see that this is real and it’s nothing to be scared of. It also shows kids with Down Syndrome that they can aspire to be like Barbie even if they face a few challenges along the way. Barbie’s job since she came out in 1959 is to show people that they can be whoever, and whatever they want if they work hard enough. The cultural aspect of it is now that Barbie symbolizes equality and recognition for an entire group of people who haven’t always been recognized the way they should be. Barbie has more than 250 careers, and this just shows that anyone can do whatever they want in life if they put their mind to it. This doll will also show people that they look like Barbie, a positive affirmation of social inclusion, which can have a big impact on our little world.

I learned quite a lot from doing this project. I learned the basic things like Down Syndrome adds an extra chromosome to the 21st pair, and it affects the people who have it and their families. But I also learned that Mattel produced a Barbie Doll with Down Syndrome. I found out about World Down Syndrome Day which takes place on March 21st, every year. The date of World Down Syndrome Day was chosen because the numerical date would be 3/21 which is the amount of chromosomes on the 21st pair. I learned about Gerard van Honthorst, John Langdon Down, and Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune, who all had to do with the early depictions, descriptions, and findings of Down Syndrome. 

With all of this information I’m interested in learning more with the help of Dr. Rick Rader and possibly becoming a doctor with my primary focus being on people with disabilities.

About the author

Born in Orange County, California, Kaitlyn grew up among peers from a myriad of backgrounds .Currently 14-years-old, Kaitlyn aspires to become a physician, specifically for the underserved population based on her affinity and affection for people with disabilities.