Another beautiful column in the Boston Globe by Beverly Beckham, informed by her life with her cherished granddaughter Lucy.

Beckham refutes negative and inaccurate claims about Down syndrome made in a current pregnancy handbook by “internationally renowned” author and “Oprah” guest Sherman J. Silber, M.D.

Among Silber’s claims is one that children with DS “usually die before their thirtieth birthday.” The March of Dimes lists their life expectancy at about 55 years; other sources say it reaches into the 60s and is climbing, thanks to medical advances.

An excerpt:

It takes a long time to alter public perception, to dispel these untruths. I know. My granddaughter has Down syndrome.

“This is Lucy,” I say to someone new and Lucy smiles, or doesn’t, because she is 4 and 4-year-olds can be sweet or they can be indifferent and stare at the floor.

But mostly she is sweet and says “Hi” before bolting across a room to wherever she wants to be. Mostly she makes a good impression. And this is important because Lucy may be the only child with Down syndrome this person ever meets.

Lucy doesn’t know that she’s an ambassador. She doesn’t know that how she acts may determine what a person thinks of other people with Down syndrome. She doesn’t know that she’s up against misinformation and fear.

… Efforts to change the way people think about kids with disabilities are slow going because there are not enough Lucys telling the world that they’re OK. Lucy is not on “Oprah.” Lucy is not an “expert.”

… On paper, kids with disabilities do not make a good impression. … But in person? Lucy charms.

In person, Lucy is just a person, 4 years old, saying her hellos, then racing away to discover the world.

Here’s a partial listing of earlier columns to savor by Beverly Beckham.

• Lucy is learning; Are the doctors?
• The downside of Down
• Let’s not use the words that wound others
• Never say never
• Victories, sweet and simple

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Down syndrome, families, language, medicine, NOT2BEMISSED, public attitudes, quality of life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.