From CNN:

Nineteen-year-old Zach Wincent of St. Charles, Illinois, has a satisfying life. He was prom king in high school, now attends community college and works at Target. Zach’s life demonstrates the improved circumstances of people with Down syndrome in the United States, thanks to advances in education and medical care.

An excerpt:

Life with Down syndrome has changed dramatically in the past century. In 1929, the average life expectancy for a person with the condition was 9 years, but today, it is 58 to 60, said Nicole Schupf, associate professor of clinical epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center.

Before a movement started in the late 1960s, people with Down syndrome were shut away in institutions, she said. Now, children with the condition are integrated into the schooling system, and adults are able to live by themselves, said Schupf. She also studies the connection between Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, which she said is strong.

“People who were born a long time ago who are now in their 60s and 70s, with Down syndrome, although there are very few of them, really didn’t have the benefit of all the newer advances in medical treatment and in rehabilitation that have made the people who are being born with Down syndrome now much more independent, much higher-functioning,” she said.

Zach’s mother, Marget Wincent, says entrepreneurship is the newest wave of employment for people with disabilities. She hopes to help Zach start a small business.

See related CNN reports:

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Learn more about Down syndrome

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Campaign 2008, Down syndrome, genetics, history, institutionalization, intellectual/developmental disabilities, medicine, parents, success stories. 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.