I’m sure many of you have heard by now of Leo, the little boy born with Down Syndrome. If not I would encourage you to read it here.

Leo Forrest

Leo was born with Down Syndrome, a disability affecting the amount of chromosomes a child has.  A child with Down Syndrome has 47 chromosomes instead of 46.  I don’t have a child with Down Syndrome, but I would not say it is a huge problem.  A child with Down Syndrome in my experience is happy, loving, care-free, and full of life.

Again, I don’t have a child with Down Syndrome, so I don’t know the full details and how life is with Down Syndrome.  But this story hit me.  My son was born with a genetic disorder and never once did we have the thought to give him up.

This story is from Armenia, a country that once belonged to the Soviet Union.  I don’t know if this impacts their thinking, but I do know their view of children with disabilities is a very sad one.  They (the hospital) give parents the offer of giving their disabled children to an orphanage.  Imagine, waiting 9 months to meet your child and in an instance your built up love for them is gone due to what you view as an imperfection.

I commend the Samuel Forrest, the father of Leo, for choosing his son.  That had to be a very hard decision.  Your wife who you love, or your newborn child.  He made the right choice and I can’t wait to hear in the future how his relationship with his son grows.

After reading this story I stumbled onto a new twitter push, #IMREADY.  It’s a push for children with disabilities to more prevalent in media.  I think that would be great, but it would need to go further than that.  America needs to ensure that special education programs in schools work towards inclusion and education of peers.

I believe the biggest issue in our schools today is a lack of support.  Not just for the students, but also for the staff.  Children don’t always need a one on one aide, however they do need direct education and that one on one time during the day.  We sometimes try to get by with just enough staff that meets guidelines.  While these guidelines are helpful, can’t we do better than that?  It would be great to see peers come alongside students with disabilities and look at them as equals instead of someone to avoid.

The first step starts with staff and it starts early on.  If you haven’t been around children with special needs you don’t know how to react to them.  You may be uncomfortable and hesitant around them when you are approached.  Children pick up on this and will react in the same manner.  When that happens we have a generation of children growing up avoiding their peers with special needs.

I don’t think we need to force interaction, however we do need to ensure children with special needs get to enjoy the same privileges as their peers.  If we can educate kids at an early age and show them what they can do to help, they can carry that into their adult lives.

This story is a great reminder that there are places around the world who still do not accept children for what they are.  There are still people out there struggling to accept something seen as different.  I hope that the mom will someday come around and realize what she has missed.  Good luck to Samuel in what will be a tough but worthwhile journey with his son.