I didn’t expect them to be as good as they are

  The featured video is about the Jensen-Schmidt Tennis Academy for Down syndrome and runs around 5 minutes. The Academy is a two-day program where individuals with Down syndrome of all ages are paired one-on-one with volunteer instructors to take them through drills and learn tennis basics. The Academy was the inspiration of a father of a child with Down syndrome and a French Open Doubles winner. The messages from the parents are touching and the ones from the volunteers are powerful. Continue Reading

Paradise, interrupted

Bonnie Rochman, a columnist for TIME magazine, has a new post about her trip to paradise being interrupted. It informs how a diagnosis for Down syndrome is delivered and processed by expectant parents. Rochman writes about her son entering a T-shirt shop selling shirts that made fun of individuals with intellectual disabilities. By coincidence, a family with a child with Down syndrome entered the store soon after Rochman saw the T-shirts. She writes: I felt panicky. As a mother, I wanted to Continue Reading

Guess who was at the 2013 Golden Globes?

Last year, it was a photo with George Clooney. This year, a photo with Dame Helen Mirren. I doubt Lauren's parents (or anyone for that matter) would have expected at the time the diagnosis of Down syndrome was delivered that Lauren would go on to have a recurring role in a smash TV show and attend premier Hollywood awards parties. Adding to the list of examples that demonstrate the wisdom I wrote about in this post. Continue Reading