re: Do you think people with down syndrome are unfortunate?

People with Down syndrome have a higher tendency for a lot of different medical problems, and have a life expectancy more than a decade less than people without. Then there's the whole never being able to care for yourself completely stuff and being an extra burden on your family that they may not be able to bear. I know that may sound cruel, but the attention that they require is extensive and breaks many people.

On a personal level, they probably aren't just "incredibly joyful and seemingly care free" all the time. That is probably just a part that you have seen in very limited exposure. There are emotional development issues that come with the territory of mental disorders that include things like anxiety and depression. Individuals will obviously vary, but imagine a person with Downs who is high functioning enough to understand that he is disabled and will never be able to live a fully functional life like the people who he sees around him. Doesn't that sound horrible and frustrating?

All that sounds pretty defeatist though. Downs people have still have great lives with great accomplishments in their own way, but it is definitely an extra burden in my opinion. I guess who knows though. I do have a severely mentally handicapped cousin from a different genetic disorder who my uncle has said is the only one of his children who probably is truly happy, so what the frick do I know.

I would say that if anything I am attempting to gain empathy for children and adults that endure conditions and diagnoses such as Down syndrome, mr, autism etc

That story reads a little assburgery.

I don't think you're very educated on this subject.

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This story was probably a lot more funny when I first heard it and you would have to know the guy as well for it to be even more funny, but yeah.

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Never mind the funniness of it. Did it sound like a sorry that way worth a damn in your head? Because I wish I would have pulled my finger nails out rather than read that story. It sucked.

It's that weird catch-22. The smarter you are, the more you realize just how messed up everything in life is. Depression rates skyrocket with intelligence.

I didn't ask to be born, and I certainly didn't sign any sort of contract to die.

The smarter you are, the more you question large portions of the social contracts that not as intelligent people take for granted.

Sure you aren't confusing Sean with Steven? He's an a-hole. His Down syndrome dx isn't as severe as the rest of the group

And yes Megan's mom is attractive, and that's probably the least attractive picture of her

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incredibly joyful

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This x100. I recently went on a camping trip with my daughter, other fathers and their daughters, and one of the children was a child with downs. The child changed my perspective on things. She was so damn happy it made me happy.

I agree with you completely. There are some people with downs that function at an almost completely uninhibited level. Then there are some that just cannot.

I was not saying they are mentally retarded to be mean. I was saying it because their mental development has been retarded by the genetic factors outside their control.