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Mind-Boggling

@lonleyloser / lonleyloser.tumblr.com

Gemini-She//Her
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some-weirdo-person
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corpish
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oi-lucy

Over 60% of people with down syndrome have completely normal intelligence, with the only developmental delays being from social barriers. Even those who are developmentally disabled are still capable of having fully functional lives.

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alex51324

I have not been able to locate a source for the 60% claim made in the post immediately above. It's possible that there is a study somewhere which suggests that the prevalence of intellectual disability in Down Syndrome is lower than previously thought, but I haven't been able to find it, or anything even hinting at its existence.

Instead, Numerous reputable reference sources cite some degree of intellectual disability as typical of Down Syndrome.

However!

  • Level of intellectual disability varies widely, with the majority in the mild-to-moderate range. (I wonder if this may be the source of the 60% statistic?)
  • Cognitive achievement in persons with down syndrome is highly dependent on environment and education*: in the era when parents were urged to place children with DS in full-time residential care, it was thought that the majority were severely impaired. When care changed--as a result of parents choosing to raise their children at home, and insisting that they be educated in local day schools--that turned out to be completely wrong, as these children did vastly better than peers in institutions. Just as one example, nowadays most adults with Down are able to read, whereas in the institution era almost none could.
  • (And it's certainly possible that the prevalence/degree of intellectual impairment is still being over-estimated; again, I'm not seeing anything in the literature to back up that 60% statistic, but the poster is right that social barriers are significant in terms of how impaired a given person comes across as being, and while today's understanding of the intellectual potential of people with Down Syndrome is definitely much better than it was 40 or 50 years ago, there's probably still more to learn.)
  • However--and most importantly--"normal intelligence" is not a requirement for being able to make decisions about your own life. 100% of people with Down Syndrome have preferences and the ability to express them.

(*If you're interested in the topic of how the understanding and treatment of Down Syndrome has changed over time, I recommend the book Downs: The History of a Disability. It talks about how the mass institutionalization of children with Down came about & how it shaped medical and popular understanding of the condition, and then how it ended & how the existence of large numbers of adults-with-down-syndrome who had had normal childhoods changed understanding of the condition.)

Sorry, long post is long, but I'm seeing both a lot of reblogs focusing on the 60% statistic, and also a lot pointing out that it's wrong, so I wanted to add some context--I'm pretty sure that that number is wrong, but the point about external factors/social barriers is correct and important. The experience of the two-or-so generations since institutionalization has shown that the more opportunities these folks have, the more they can do*.

(*You know, kind of like everyone else.)

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valenvine
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lantern-hill

cats will be like oh you're walking somewhere? no WE'RE walking somewhere. and i will get there first. where is 'there' btw

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wildtornado-o
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femmeidiot

wanting to talk to people is so fucking embarrassing. literally hi it's me again I wanted to have a conversation with you because I think you're fun to talk to. oh god you can just fucking kill me if you want sorry

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