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> Most people with down syndrome live happy, fulfilling lives. Correction: the people with Down Syndrome who are capable of meaningfully responding to the ques

> Most people with down syndrome live happy, fulfilling lives. Correction: the people with Down Syndrome who are capable of meaningfully responding to the question answered a certain way on one survey. Down's affects different people differently. There are plenty of people who don't have the mental facilities to understand the question, let alone respond. I've seen this kind of argument with autism, too. People here on HN will point out that they were diagnosed with autism and still have rich, meaningful lives. I don't doubt that for one moment! Still, my family lived next to a family with a profoundly autistic, nonverbal kid, and their lives were hard. The parents are lovely people but they were at their wits' end dealing with the consequences of his condition. When people talk about nebulous things like "a cure for autism", they don't mean a way to help the HN folks who have jobs and friends and families. They're talking about my next door neighbor who liked to take off his pants and run around naked outside. I imagine it's the same here. There's the occasional news story about someone with Down Syndrome graduating college and getting married. They're doing fine. It'd still be nice to find a way to help those who'd never be able to make it to kindergarten.

BrandoElFollito 6mo ago
I agree. I have two friends with light autism that does not impact their mental faculties (the old Asperger's) and they have happy lives because they are different enough to be interesting. Work, family, hobbies, everything. You push this difference a bit more and it becomes hell. For them and for the others.
protocolture 6mo ago
I have a kiddo with (very likely genetically and behaviourally, but not yet diagnosed by a psych) adhd. He runs us ragged. Love the bugger to death but he is a handful. We had him at a McDonalds playground the other day, and a nonverbal autistic kid came in escorted by a parent. He immediately got overstimulated and screamed. And ran out. He started doing laps of the McDonalds. Every time he would pass the play area, his parents would gently guide him towards it, then he would bugger off out the front door again. He did like 12 laps with his father, 12 laps with his grandfather, then 12 laps with his mother, and eventually he came back to the playground and goofed off a bit with his father again. I could clearly see they were drilled on this behaviour and used to take turns minding him. They very clearly love their son. But they really don't deserve to have a kid more than 1000 times more difficult than I can even imagine. Like even shifting that kids range a bit so that he could tolerate more play time, and do less laps of the building would help everyone involved. He wouldn't be losing some valuable element of his identity for that to happen. Whereas my kid might have trouble paying attention to the boring bits in school and want to run around a lot. I am not pining for a cure. We might medicate if it becomes an issue. Its hardly worth talking about in comparison.

BrandoElFollito 6mo ago

I agree. I have two friends with light autism that does not impact their mental faculties (the old Asperger's) and they have happy lives because they are different enough to be interesting. Work, family, hobbies, everything. You push this difference a bit more and it becomes hell. For them and for the others.

protocolture 6mo ago

I have a kiddo with (very likely genetically and behaviourally, but not yet diagnosed by a psych) adhd. He runs us ragged. Love the bugger to death but he is a handful. We had him at a McDonalds playground the other day, and a nonverbal autistic kid came in escorted by a parent. He immediately got overstimulated and screamed. And ran out. He started doing laps of the McDonalds. Every time he would pass the play area, his parents would gently guide him towards it, then he would bugger off out the front door again. He did like 12 laps with his father, 12 laps with his grandfather, then 12 laps with his mother, and eventually he came back to the playground and goofed off a bit with his father again. I could clearly see they were drilled on this behaviour and used to take turns minding him. They very clearly love their son. But they really don't deserve to have a kid more than 1000 times more difficult than I can even imagine. Like even shifting that kids range a bit so that he could tolerate more play time, and do less laps of the building would help everyone involved. He wouldn't be losing some valuable element of his identity for that to happen. Whereas my kid might have trouble paying attention to the boring bits in school and want to run around a lot. I am not pining for a cure. We might medicate if it becomes an issue. Its hardly worth talking about in comparison.