Increase in numbers of children being born with DS

[dustystar]

Anyone else see this in the news today. In spite of the increase in testing and the paranoia I sometimes see on here there are more babies being born with DS now than ever. Some of this has been put down to women having babies later but 1/3 of the people questioned said they wouldn't terminate for ethical reasons and that they felt that things were better for children with genetic SN now. I thought this was really positive news

I think there has been a definite change in how Downs syndrome is perceived. I had never even seen anyone with downs til i was 18. I only knew the ignorant stereotypes and the dreadful 'M' word. Then i went to uni. There was a girl in my class who i would sit next to at the front. She needed to be close to the lecturer and i was always late. She was nice and was attending child/developmental psychology lectures (1st yr) to help her studies for a childcare qualification. I was stunned to learn that she could drive, something i didn't manage till i was 30! Apart from her slower speech and the obvious physical signs, she was just another girl in class. A girl with a sweet nature, seriously wicked sense of humour and a filthy laugh! So my first interaction with someone with DS was a good one and taught me all i ever needed to know.
Sorry for the lack of capital 'i's - i really did go to uni, honest, but am typing and feeding the bub too!

There are two other threads on this. Mothers are older, so there are more babies with Down's syndrome being born. 92% of women offered a termination for a diagnosis of trisomy 21 in a pregnancy will terminate the pregnancy. This percentage has not changed at all since 1989.

It was featured on Woman's Hour today (Radio 4), you can Listen Again from the website. I didn't hear all of it but they were very clear that one of the main factors is that more parents are CHOOSING to have a baby with DS, having had pre-natal testing and knowing the outcome.
This is one of the points I have been making for ages when people oppose any development of pre-natal testing for other disabilities (ASD in our case) as testing has NOT eliminated people with DS or "bred out difference". But I would like my DD to have the option to choose if it were available as she has grown up living with ASD and I don't see why she shouldn't be allowed to make a choice to live her whole life with it or not if such a choice were available.

That was the impression i got form the report I read davros - that people were choosing to go ahead with the pregnancy. I have no problems with testing but I thought it was really encouraging to hear that more people were choosing to keep their baby after finding out they had DS.

It's great news.
LBC radio rang me this morning to tell me and asked me to speak to the presented about it, which of course I did.
Hope the number of babies born with Down's syndrome increases year after year after year

I think its great that, despite the way some health professionals promote prenatal testing and then termination as the only path to choose, there are increasing numbers of parents out there who are realising they have other choices.
I had prenatal blood tests (which showed a high chance of downs) but turned down amnio as both exH and I agreed it wouldn't change how we felt. Its heartening to see that many others feel the same way

I don't really understand the figures etc, and whether there is actually a real trend going on, but I'm always pleased when there is something decent in the media which might help people to realise it's not such a terrible thing having a child with Down's. It's certainly great that prospective parents get that message.

What we need now is for the medical profession and the people at the LEAs, Social Services etc. who control access to appropriate inclusive support to realise!