March 21, 2012, was the first World Down Syndrome Day. This day reminds the world how precious and special are those with Down syndrome and how we must be their voice so that they can attain their full potential.
Every year’s WDSD celebration offers a different theme. This year, knowing that people with Down syndrome throughout the world are frequently denied quality education, healthcare, a chance to earn their own income, and the tools they need to thrive, advocates are calling “on all governments to improve [their] support systems.”
This is a monumental task but one whose outcomes have unlimited benefits. These support systems are often lacking because of fear, ignorance, and misinformation. That’s why it takes advocates all over the world to effect change.
Advocates understand that we need better education, better laws and policies, more help for families, and assistance for people with Down syndrome as they grow up and move toward greater independence. All of these things will go a long way to helping families and people with Down syndrome in ways big and small.
Team Iron Will
Cathy Daub, mother of eight—including a four-year-old with Down syndrome—has become a fiercely brave advocate for her son. When she first learned that Will had a 99% chance of having Down syndrome, she didn’t fear welcoming him into her family, loving him, and wondering how her other children would react. She feared how the world would treat him. So she began to research, which led her to the vast Down syndrome community filled with people who not only shared the immense joy their children bring to their lives but who offer help and advice through their families’ unique struggles.
As Will grew and encountered medical problems, that community stepped up to assist Cathy’s family, even providing them with much-needed therapy equipment that helped Will progress in strength and skill. She and her husband asked questions, sought advice, and educated themselves so they could be the best possible advocates for Will. Soon they began to advocate for Will in doctors’ offices and their community, as well as nationally through webinars, Instagram posts, and community events.
From this advocacy, Team Iron Will was born “to support, encourage, and advocate for individuals with Down syndrome as they discover their God-given potential.” And Team Iron Will is now giving back by helping families get the therapy equipment they need but cannot afford.
Cathy explained that in 2024 and thus far into 2025, Team Iron Will has reached over 1,000 families through online educational webinars and has helped 309 families with material resources and therapy scholarships. This is an amazing achievement.
Last year, Team Iron Will created a wonderful awareness video, so I asked Cathy how she and her family will be celebrating World Down Syndrome Day this year. She excitedly explained they will wear their mismatched socks, which are a staple of WDSD, and will shout the worth of their friends with DS in person and on social media.
She also explained that they are launching an updated Team Iron Will website and refocusing their efforts more toward advocacy that begins in utero.
Today’s eugenics
Cathy understands the tragic fact that, in the majority of cases in which babies are diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome, the parents choose to abort them.
In the US, estimates of abortion of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome range from 60% to 90%. But in other countries, it’s much higher. In Iceland, that number is nearly 100%, while in Denmark it’s 98%, and in Australia, it is about 90%.
The majority of women who choose to abort their babies likely do so out of fear: fear of the unknown, of what their child may face, or of being unable to handle the child’s special needs. Many women tell stories of how their doctors pressure them to abort, calling their children “burdens” or scaring them into thinking that their family will be unable to handle a child with Down syndrome or even that this new miracle will “ruin” their family.
It is indeed today’s genocide.
Team Iron Will wants to change this mindset and to help people understand that those with Down syndrome are gifts to cherish and protect.
As WDSD approaches, Cathy offers advice for new parents of children with Down syndrome. She encourages them to “just love their children” and says:
Medical professionals like to scare new parents by telling them all the things that can go wrong if you have DS, but the truth is that there’s so much more that can and will go right. Will opens our eyes more every day to a beauty that I never realized existed. He’s taught us to slow down and enjoy life’s simple pleasures. He’s taught us to rejoice in little and big accomplishments. He’s taught us to love with reckless unconditional love, to see the humanity in others even when we don’t agree, and to persevere through hard things with grace and hope.
We were told he’d take longer to learn everything, and by the world’s standards that’s probably true. But truthfully, he’s the teacher. We are the students, and we are the ones who took longer to learn what truly matters. I think people with Down syndrome hold the key to living a life of happiness. And we are thankful and humbled that God has allowed us the honor of raising Will and walking beside him through life.
This World Down Syndrome Day, let us see those with Down syndrome through the eyes of countless mothers and fathers who share Cathy’s love and wisdom. Let us see those with Down syndrome for the blessings and gifts they are. And let us lend our voices, both locally and on a global scale, to protect, support, and love those with Down syndrome.
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We should lovingly embrace those of our sisters and brothers born with Downs. The Church should make special provision for their care given their vulnerabilities. I note that there is an order of Sisters who are open to vocations for women with Downs. They have a rightful place in our Church. That said, we need to stop this craze of having a “This Day” and “That Day” celebrating groups that the elitists think are marginalized; it is patronizing. Those with Downs don’t need to be patronized, they need to be loved.
Amen, Diogenes. We have a child with Down syndrome in our family. The extent to which the vast swath of society excludes, ignores or otherwise rejects these folks is mind-boggling. This is doubly puzzling when one knows that persons with Down syndrome so readily show great acceptance and warm affection toward all others.
A further boost which those who appreciate such things is the complete and total spiritual innocence of folks with Down syndrome. They are perpetually young; they seem to always be at the threshold of the age of reason without ever crossing that threshold into hate and irrationality of those who ought to know better.
May God richly bless the caregivers, family and friends of all people with Down syndrome and other ‘disorders’ which are wonderful and radiant gifts from God to sinful humanity.
Amen, meiron.
Blessings to you, mrscracker.
Thank you!
You have a blessed day also, meiron.
🙂
Recently we attended the wedding of two children with Downs whose parents are dear friends. Tom and Judy were in need of continual help, so they moved to an apartment near Tom’s parents. We watched them as they sought work. It wasn’t easy. Supportive organizations like Team Iron Will could help with tailored employment.
Nationwide Children: Over 6,000 babies are born with Down syndrome in the United States each year. As recently as 1983, a person with Down syndrome lived to be only 25 years old on average. Today, the average life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome is nearly 60 years and continues to climb.
https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2021/07/down-syndrome-life-expectancy
I will continue to ask why would a loving God who, on day 6, said “I will create man in my image and likeness. I pray for disabled children every day as I see a baby w/o arms, or another with a bald head suffering from cancer at St Jude Children’s Hospital.
Evidence has shown a significant improvement in the longevity of Downs. Lets pray one day the will live longer.
Jesus was perfect and men killed him. Men are made in God’s image and likeness, and MEN warped that image and likeness. A loving God does did not create an imperfect image of himself, but men have splattered, soiled, and made God’s image less than perfect. When our first parents sinned, they warped God’s image of perfection, justice, and beauty.
People with visible imperfections can be spiritually very good. It is an unsullied spirit, a clean soul which is a good image of God’s goodness, reflected in a child’s innocence and a holy person’s heart.
Merion. “People with visible imperfections can be spiritually very good. It is an unsullied spirit, a clean soul which is a good image of God’s goodness, reflected in a child’s innocence and a holy person’s heart.”
Even with innocent newborns, God stained the souls of his entire human creation with original sin. God knew what would happen to humanity.
US Catholic: “Limbo (Late Lat. limbus), One tradition that a time-traveler would likely encounter among educated medieval Catholics is belief in limbo—that is, a kind of in-between afterlife zone for unbaptized babies and virtuous non-Christians. Belief in limbo was so common that Dante depicted it in his theological afterlife.” I like (virtuous non-Christians). Arent they our “separated brethren?. Very tenuous.?
https://uscatholic.org/articles/202311/glad-you-asked-do-catholics-believe-in-limbo/
Morgan,
God does not stains our souls with sin. Our ancestral parents stained their souls and their descendants’ human nature with sin. The human nature as God originally created it was GOOD. Genesis tells us this. The soul which God creates in every person is GOOD. An infant carries the stain of original human sin which has been passed on by his original human parents. Newborns are innocent of personal sin but are not innocent of original sin, and this is why the Church recommends infant baptism.
I do not understand exactly what you are saying in your paragraph about limbo and separated brethren.
An alternative, orthodox Catholic theory to limbo that I’ve heard, is that those who die unbaptized and before the age of reason are given the opportunity, before they die, to freely chose to love God and go to heaven, or to hate Him and go to hell. By this theory, it would be perfectly reasonable and good to pray for them.
Virtuous non-Christians does not include the Orthodox or Protestants (separated brethren) because they’re Christian. Virtuous non-Christians would be Jews, Muslims, pagans, and atheists, who seek God and live virtuous lives but are deceived regarding true doctrine. They are not saved by the theory I mentioned above, because they’ve attained the age of reason. But, there have always been various theories about how they could be saved, through Christ, without explicitly joining the Church.
Pain tells us something is wrong. Suffering tells us there is evil in this world. The suffering of innocents, I think, tells us something about the fact that we are in this world together, our own evil actions will also affect innocents, and also that our reparations can affect others in this world, as Christ’s innocent suffering does.
Ananda, You say “those who die unbaptized and before the age of reason are given the opportunity, before they die.” I would offer that the “age of reason” is subtle and in unique stages and is not always visible to the parents or guardians. What happens if they overlook or don’t know of the “age of reason”?
Psychologist Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development stages, children are engaged learners.
https://centrepointschools.com/blogs/piaget-stages-of-development/
Limbo has never been a dogma but neither has it been completely discounted as a possibility as far as I know. God is in charge & we trust infants who are unbaptized to His loving Mercy.
Adults & those above the age of reason who are not baptized fall into another category.
Do you have a catechism at home Mr. Morgan? I find the illustrated Baltimore catechism very helpful.