8 Major Misconceptions About Down’s Syndrome - From A Parent Who Had Them
5. Labelling
The CBS article referenced in the introduction was guilty of many linguistic crimes in relation to Down's Syndrome and people with the condition, but amongst the generally pleasing parade of protestation and consternation that followed, The Independent's report of that report committed another cardinal sin.
Children with Down's Syndrome are simply that. They are categorically not 'Down's Syndrome children'. The same obviously applies to adults. It may seem glib, but the distinction is absolutely enormous to parents and people that feel completely marginalised and pigeonholed by the order of clauses.
It's a fault more for its frequency. The mistake is made over and over again, normally resulting in advocacy groups, or people with Down's promptly advising headline writers or organisations of their careless error.
It's very much at the heart of the hurt in the piece about the Icelandic termination. Down's Syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality, a part of those that have it, and those that care for them. It is not them. With an inordinate amount of pressure on parents to try and 'normalise' the life of their children regardless of disability, disorder, affliction or ailment as it is, the situation is made so much harder by huge readerships learning bad habits from supposedly credible sources.