I don’t know much about Down’s Syndrome, so I hope you will bear with me if I make any blunders. I don’t mean to, I just want some help in understanding.
I recently saw an episode of Law & Order SVU in which a girl with Down’s Syndrome showed up pregnant. Due to ignorance (her mom wouldn’t let her take sex ed classes) she thought her boyfriend who kissed her made her pregnant, rather than her employer who showed her how to “exercise.”
The pregnant girl was played by an actress with Down’s Syndrome, so I was curious as to how hard it is for someone with this disablity to act. I thought she was very convincing in the role, but I wonder if she took things too seriously or if she was capable of separating acting from real life.
I know there was a Down’s Syndrome actor in Life Goes On with Kellie Martin, one in an episode of CSI and also one with Demi Moore in The Sixth Sign. Are there degrees of severity Down’s Syndrome? Obviously some are able to learn lines and emote…so what can’t they understand or do?
Again, I apologize if I made any offensive comments in my ignorance.
ivylass, the above link is one of several that offers information about Down’s Syndrome and those living with it.
For many years my mother worked as a nurse at KNI, the Kansas Neurological Institute, a state residency for the mentally challenged, as they call it now. With the coming of mainstreaming and assisted living many higher functioning DS residents moved into the community. There are degrees of capability among DS people, just like the community at large, and sometimes certain health issues, like heart conditions, are linked to it. The following link was written by George Will, the political commentator, about a boy with Down’s Syndrome, and the refusal of his parents to give permission for surgery that would allow him to live out a normal span. It’s quite sad.
I remember actually seeing in Newsweek a followup article, with more about the young man in question, and how indignant Will was that anyone would consider the life of a DS person “Not worth living”. Not surprising, condisering that Will’s son Jonathan is DS. Will mentione in that article he, along with several others, was being sued by the parents of the young man in the article, for libel.